City of Compton misused gas tax funds to balance city budget

Compton Mayor Aja Brown and her fellow council members should be ashamed of themselves.  Either they can’t understand the city budget or the Mayor has boldly lied to Compton residents about money to repair the city’s streets.  As residents have begged for the potholes to be repaired, the mayor has always contended there was no money to do so.  Apparently for the last nine years, including the nearly five she has been mayor, she has approved every city budget brought before her which includes using gas tax money, earmarked for street repairs, to deliver a “balanced” budget to residents.  Brown’s fellow council members also share the blame for their affirmative votes too.  Is this what Aja Brown learned while earning her Masters degree and/or working for the city’s of Gardena and Inglewood?

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As the media continues to delve into the scathing audit produced by State Controller Betty Yee’s office, the L.A. Times published an article that gets to the crux of the matter.  City Manager Cecil Rhambo’s response when questioned by LAT staffer Angel Jennings was “our bad”.

Compton officials used state-issued funds earmarked for road repairs and other transportation-related expenses to balance the city’s budget and pay for unrelated projects, according to a state audit.

In total, $5.2 million in taxpayer funds was misused from 2007 to 2016 and will have to be paid back to the state.

In 2013 after taking office Mayor Brown broached the idea of a sales tax measure to fix the streets.  She was the face of the 2016 campaign, called Measure P, that ultimately increased the sales tax to over 10% to go towards street repairs.  She blamed prior administrations for their not being any funds.  Again, the audit seems to point the beginning of the mess to the Eric Perrodin Administration.

Mayor Aja Brown

May 10, 2016 · 

It’s time to FIX OUR STREETS by voting YES on MEASURE P! A few extra pennies a year will REPAVE every street in Compton (not just patch potholes), add much-needed street lighting to make our streets safer, restore our parks and programs for our kids, seniors and more! Measure P includes mandatory citizen oversight and reporting, plus we have time to get your input before we spend a single cent! This is the only strategy to date to address our city’s challenges. We have a small window of opportunity to keep our money local. There are ballot initiatives coming in November that are proposing to spend your tax dollars outside of Compton. Don’t be fooled by the #ComptonTeaParty that is against progress. It’s time to fix our streets. Period. Either we pay a few pennies extra a year to fully revitalize our city and create jobs or pay hundreds in car repairs and live in the same conditions. I’d rather live in a clean and safe city! Invest in Compton. Learn more at Http://www.YesOnMeasureP.org

Related:  Compton City Council Approves Measure Aimed At Repairing Local Streets, Parks and Enhancing Public Safety

Opponents to the measure where adamant that funds already existed to repair the streets and they were deemed “haters” and against “progress” in the city.

Why wasn’t the Mayor truthful to the residents that the reason there was no money is because her and her colleagues were using it to pay for other expenses?

Measure P is expected to bring in annual revenue of $8 million.  Now instead of it going to fix the streets, its going back to the state due to mismanagement.

Residents lose again and you can’t blame it on former Mayor Omar Bradley either.

Read the full LATimes article by clicking here.