Letter to the Editor 9-22-16

Assessment concerning
Editor: I noticed with interest the article in the Sept. 8 Reveille regarding “City bumps annual pension tax assessed on property owners.” This property tax line item (which partially funds Cloverdale’s pension obligations) was, by far, the largest special assessment on my 2015-16 property tax bill, comprising 7.6 percent of the total bill. The proposed increase in this special assessment is 15 percent for 2016-17, which concerns me. I am not opposed to reasonable compensation and defined pensions for our city employees. I believe that our city employees are well compensated on the job and even more so in retirement. If you are interested, I recommend that you go to the following website and draw your own conclusions: www.transparentcalifornia.com/salaries/cloverdale.
Tom Clark
Cloverdale
Please go away
Editor: The Cloverdale City Council needs to take immediate action. Two steps: Fire the city manager, then resign from the council. Before we had a new city manager we were paying enough taxes to operate the city. The new city manager is very good at spending “OPM” (Other People’s Money). The city council hired a consulting firm with $60,000 of OPM. I was told by a council member that “they had more expertise.” That expertise got us a new city motto “Genuinely Cloverdale.”
The new city manager spent $30,000 of OPM for a telephone survey that showed them a way to get more OPM, resulting in the utility user tax, the UUT. So, now our city is taxing the sewage out of us.
So, with that and other taxes: sales, fuel, SMART, schools, excise, highway, what this all adds up to is taking food off our table. Now the city council grants themselves a raise in compensation for the time they spend spending OPM. It’s not enough to go after our food, now they are after our house. They are taking from our retirement income and adding it to their retirement income. Cloverdale City Council, please go away.
Ron Cooper
Cloverdale
Yes on Y
Editor: A couple of days ago I visited the Cloverdale Library and it was packed. Every chair and table was occupied. Students were working on laptops using the free internet access provided by the library or using research materials. Adults were using the library’s computers. People were reading magazines or browsing for books, audiobooks and DVDs. Parents were sitting on the rug with their kids looking at books. A group of elementary age girls were discussing the different books in a favorite series.
It was satisfying to see the library meet the needs of such a diverse group. I would like to see the library keep fulfilling these needs for our community. So I need you, the citizens of Cloverdale to vote yes on Y this November. Measure Y is a one-eighth of a cent countywide sales tax that will provide dedicated funding to our library system. We can get the libraries open once again on Monday. We can extend the weekend and evening hours. We can make sure our book and materials collection stay up to date. We can make sure our technology meets the needs of all our library patrons. For more information: www.supportsonomacountylibraries.com. I’m asking you to join me in voting yes on Y this election.
Susan Clark, President
Friends of the Cloverdale Library
Traffic concerns
Editor: With the welcomed growth in Cloverdale we are seeing increased traffic which, unfortunately, brings increased safety concerns. This is especially evident on South Cloverdale Boulevard at Treadway Drive. With what appears the start of work on the Grocery Outlet on Treadway it will only be getting worse. These concerns bring me to suggest that safety improvements are needed at that intersection. I suggest the city explore the possibility of a round-about as a lower cost, speed mitigating, access improving solution. They have been used for many years, successfully, in Europe. Their use is increasing here in California. Before serious accidents occur can the city leaders be pro-active and start planning and budgeting for this inevitable need?
Harry Martin
Cloverdale