Nine most terrifying words
The nine most terrifying words in the English language are,
'I'm from the government and I'm here to help.'
Ronald Reagan
'I'm from the government and I'm here to help.'
Ronald Reagan
40th president of The Untied States (1911 - 2004)
By Steve Grasha, North B-BAR-H Resident
These are the words I thought of as I listened to county staff making a presentation at the last MAC meeting!
Our community needs to give serious consideration to the proposal to gut CSA115 if we approve the county's proposal we may find ourselves with no recourse when it comes time to repair and maintain our roads at an acceptable level as the county deficit looms at 200 Million dollars this coming year.
We have paid 1.5 million dollars to our special district since it's inception and the county can only account for less than One Hundred Thousand of it. The funds were to only be used for road maintenance and improvements within CSA 115 which is B-BAR-H Ranch.
I believe it would be wise to make no changes to our current CSA until we have adequate answers from the county as to what they have done with our ONE MILLION FOUR HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS.
This is money that was only to be used within the boundaries of our ranch and the boundaries of the LAW.
Our community needs to give serious consideration to the proposal to gut CSA115 if we approve the county's proposal we may find ourselves with no recourse when it comes time to repair and maintain our roads at an acceptable level as the county deficit looms at 200 Million dollars this coming year.
We have paid 1.5 million dollars to our special district since it's inception and the county can only account for less than One Hundred Thousand of it. The funds were to only be used for road maintenance and improvements within CSA 115 which is B-BAR-H Ranch.
I believe it would be wise to make no changes to our current CSA until we have adequate answers from the county as to what they have done with our ONE MILLION FOUR HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS.
This is money that was only to be used within the boundaries of our ranch and the boundaries of the LAW.
Labels: B-BAR-H Ranch, B-BAR-H Ranch Residents, csa 115, riverside county
posted by 2B4U at
10:20 PM
8 Comments:
Steve,
I did not attend the last MAC meeting, but I think you make a good point about not relinquishing CSA rights.
How do we know that our CSA115 has actually paid in $1.5 million to our special district? And what should we do to gain access to those funds when we need them? Just make sure to retain our CSA rights, and keep fighting, as necessary?
Fred
This is Shocking News I have heard about the MAC meeting in regards to neighborhood B Bar H. I find it unacceptable to see Riverside County treat our neighborhood with unaccounted funds and expenditures. Our Tax's are paid and regulated for the maintenance of roads and lighting with all due consideration. I have seen the City Council in the City of Bell, and Desert Hot Springs take advantage of Citizens and their Tax Funds. I am hoping we do end up in the same category.
No decisions should be made about appropriating funds to maintain our neighborhood till the accounts have been reviewed since 1977. Expenditures and Appropriations Accessed on the account most definitely have to be made public. It is expected of every tax payer and need be made public by the County. I do not wish use the word Robbed till the County has a had a chance to make their accounting public.. I find it odd putting money into account that has been misappropriated. I would like my credit funds returned if no such documentation can be provided. Authority does not give a Office the right to use our money for other purposes than collected for. It is Tax Fraud in that our tax's are not being used as collected. This seems to be a trend of 21st Century Politics and I do not wish to become a Victim.
Please provide the home owners of B Bar H Ranch a Honest account of of our tax's, before making decisions about our roads and maintenance. I find quite scary that that County officials can be so blunted about misappropriation of funds.
Thank You, Christopher and Maria Georgesco
PLEASE PROVIDE A AUDIT OF THE TAX MONEY COLLECTED AND AND SPENT BEFORE MAKING ANY DECISSIONS> I AM A AFRAID THAT I AM BEING ROBBED BY THE COUNTY OF THE MONEY SET ASIDE FOR MAINTAINTAINING OUR COMMUNITIES ROADS AND CLEANING OUR STREETS> I JUST WISH TO RECIEVE THE THE SERVICES WHICH MONEY HAS BEEN COLLECT IN THE FORM OF PROPERTY TAX>
Steve:
When the CSA115 was under the direction of its own governing body, things seemed to get done easier and quicker. Chairman Curtis Witt was a dedicated leader and did a great job for CSA115. Through the MAC, it took us over a year to get our streets cleaned, and it's not because we didn't try! County Staff listened to our requests, the MAC Board of Directors voted to get the streets cleaned, and then we waited. I think it took us over a year because we added a layer of bureaucracy when the MAC took over the CSA115 tax funds.
Maybe the MAC isn't the right forum for the B-BAR-H Ranch. Maybe we need to revert back to the original CSA115 governing body to oversee our community's maintenance. These are items only the Honorable Marion Ashley can address for us.
It was a struggle getting the streets cleaned, but we finally did it after we presented the CSA115 documents to the County which clearly stated our tax dollars are to cover miscellaneous road maintenance and extended road maintenance.
All we want/wanted is to keep our streets cleared of sand and debris making them safe for drivers and walkers.
We were repeatedly told, "No. The CSA115 Road & Lighting fund does not cover street cleaning!" We believed what we were told, but we needed to see for ourselves by reviewing the CSA115 formation documents. When we located the documentation, it was clear, street cleaning is part of miscellaneous road maintenance because the street sweeper was out here cleaning immediately. I'll write a blog post with photos soon about the street sweeper.
Steve, the points you make are valid.
I do not believe the people I know and have worked with for the past year from Riverside County have absconded our tax dollars, but I do believe we have the right as tax payers to maintain our roads when they need attention. Especially when there's money in the fund to do so.
We already asked to see a full accounting of where our tax dollars were spent. I'll be posting the information we received from County Staff on the blog soon which covers the past eight years or about $100,000 for road maintenance.
I am curious to see how the CSA115 tax dollars were spent because there were no roads out here until about five years ago. Where did all the money go that was accumulated prior to us having roads? If each parcel of land pays $75 per year, and there are about 570 parcels of land; since 1977, or for 34 years we should have accumulated into the CSA115 account about $1,453,500.00.
The tax payers have questions, and I'm sure County Staff will provide the answers.
Chris and Fred made clear, valid points, too. It's good to hear from our neighbors. I hope more people take the time to send their thoughts.
This is our community, and we take these decisions seriously. We all want to do the right thing.
Thank you for taking the time to make us all think twice!
Anna Miller
All things being accurate.......I FULLY agree with Steve's position.
Let them account for the money FIRST!
Guy Hildebrand
I am glad to see that all of you have your thinking caps on.
Steve's and others points are accurate and enlightening. The County should make due the account for every penny collected. Another point to look closely at: is how many owners over-payed property taxes when the housing values dropped within the past 3 years? Yet and still no matter the cost the same amount of money per owner went into the CSA115 coffer (someone correct me if I am wrong).
Another must do on the list before signing off on the agreement is to scrutinized the Federal Grant. When without that knowledge we might be short changing ourselves from additional benefits. They may have offered us the minimum... Let's find out before agreeing... I won't be able to attend the meeting on the Prison but keep me posted as to what happened...
Joseph K Okon
I've lived here for a long time, and I agree with Steve. We need to get things done according to the law.
This is interesting. I don't live in your district, but I found this website searching online. This is a nice blog you have going here. Keep up the good work. Wish my neighborhood would do this....
I just added the Road Maintenance expenses for the past eight years and the total comes to about $240,000 just on Road Maintenance/Improvements alone. That's not including the expense for Lights and Administration. If you want to see the details read the blog post "Show Us the M O N E Y !!!"
County Staff was asked to supply the detail break down for each year.
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