Sen. Dutton to visit city
State Sen. Bob Dutton is scheduled to visit with Redlands' City Council on Tuesday. It's a public meeting, so those who want to drop by can do so.
Dutton staffer Larry Broedow said the senator is likely to discuss transportation issues and the state budget crisis. Here in the Golden State, it seems like budget shortfalls have become a way of life.
Last month, the Legislative Analyst's Office published a report with the findings that a $4.1 billion reserve in California's 2007-08 budget will be wiped out when the fiscal year on June 30, and the state will instead finish the year nearly $1.9 billion in the hole.
There's more. (Or is it less?) A $9.8-billion deficit is projected to smack Sacramento at the end of the 2008-09 budget year.
On his Web site, Dutton has posted a statement asserting his view that the state's problem is overspending, not a shortage of revenues, so he's likely to repeat that view when he visits Redlands.
Comments
Hopefully he will address the issue of the retirements of the Redlands Police Force. I mean they are costing the city so much. I think the Exceti report uncovered A 40% higher early retirement rate for Redlands Police than the state average. Thats a pretty big debt for Redlands to carry.I cant imagine that being an officer in Redlands is that stressful.
Posted by: jodee | December 14, 2007 5:53 AM
It's not just retirements, it's the way business is conducted in the Redlands Police Dept. A year ago this question was raised. Bueermann chose to style the issue as a personal attack. He hired a criminal attorney, Beswick. The City settled the issue by paying attorney fees, costs, and increasing the Chief's salary to more than $300,000. (It may be as much as $500,000/year when benefits and the value of his termination guarantee are added.) Naturally, the Fire Chief demanded, and received the same salary boost.
Or, how about the Redlands Police Dept. plane? None of its cost was to come out of the budget, but it turns out that the duty officer flying in the plane is being paid with 'comp time'. The plane costs deplete emergency funds by $250,000 and siphon salary from the budget via the backdoor.
Consider the recent traffic safety grant reported in the Facts last Wednesday: > The Police Department has said that they don't have staff to do traffic control, but now that they have money, they do. Go figure?
Posted by: Charlie Trie | December 19, 2007 11:01 AM