IE Chatter

Regional Economic Carnage...

Man...it is just ugly and uglier out there.

San Bernardino Unified School District looking to do layoffs.

San Bernardino City is a wreck.

Redlands is in trouble.

Fontana is doing the layoff thing.

Riverside County is laying off people.

San Bernardino County is looking to do furloughs and hopefully avoid layoffs.

Victorville is a disaster.  Their former city manager may have been criminally negligent on some "verbal contracts".

Temecula had a round of layoffs I believe.

Unemployment is at historic levels.

Car dealerships are begging for handouts.

The stock market is plummeting.

The state is raising taxes to astronomical levels.

The president is spending trillions of dollars on what exactly?

Foreclosures litter the landscape.

It is depressing.

Burn, Burn, Burn...Like a Burning Ring of Fire...

It is going from bad to worse to crisis in Redlands.

At the City Council's mid-year budget review Tuesday, city Finance Director and Treasurer Tina Kundig presented a report that shows the city budget is facing a $5.7million shortfall by the end of the fiscal year on June 30.

The budget gap was created by a severe dropoff in sales-tax revenue, property taxes, business-license fees and other city income streams.

The Police Department will cut $806,000 - including a slashed overtime budget for major crime investigations. Other reductions include the Fire Department ($127,000), the Community Development Department ($80,000), the Finance Department ($25,000), and the A.K. Smiley Public Library ($7,000).

Redlands Struggles with Budget Deficit - Looking at Public Safety Overtime Protocols

Redlands is looking at the overtime practices of its police and fire departments in an effort to deal with its budget problems.

Martinez [city manager] said the consultant will cost the city $19,900 - the lowest price of the consultant firms that responded to the request for proposal. The consultant's study will be paid for through money already set aside by the police and fire departments.

"I asked staff to prepare a request for proposal for consulting service to review the overtime policies, practices and (memorandums of understanding) of the fire and police departments, the departments that account for the major portion of the overtime expenses incurred by the city," Martinez wrote.

Local governments are now really taking a look at their public safety budgets as the deal with the mounting financial fall out from the economic recession.  Some cities are looking to declare bankruptcy like Vallejo, while others are slashing budgets, freezing salaries and laying off personnel.  Police and fire services generally account for about 60% of a local governments expenditures from its general budget.

Why Does Government Always Get Bigger?

Redland's treasurer Mike Reynolds recently resigned his office and since his arrest about a year ago, other staffers in the city have been assuming some of his responsibilities.  Yeah...its called teamwork and pitching in.

As you may already know, the city has been in a big time budget crunch.  Although the treasurer's rsponsibilities were given to other staffers, the council recently appointed a replacement.  That replacement now receives the treasurer's salary...and now two city staffers now receive more money as well.

In the private sector, its called sucking it up and taking it.  In the private sector, people get laid off and the ones fortunate enough to still have a job, are forced to assume more of the workload.  It aint fair...its life.

But in the fairy tale of government, incompetence is promoted, no one takes responsibility and heaven forbid someone be called to do something that isnt in their "job description".

Nice to see the Redlands city council has its priorities in order.  Lets give highly paid bureaucrats even more money and cut spending on services to the taxpayers.

"Retired" Redlands Treasurer Takes Plea Deal With Jail Time

According to the Riverside Press-Enterprise, newly "retired" Redlands Treasurer Mike Reynolds won't need to worry about putting around his garden to waste away his personal time.  He will be able to fill the void behind bars for 30 days.

The article reports:

"My reputation was irreparably damaged when I was arrested," he said. "I could start the rest of my life the day after sentencing -- and that's why I took the plea."

Reynolds will return to San Bernardino County Superior Court on Sept. 25, when he is expected to be sentenced to 30 days in jail and ordered to reimburse Redlands nearly $38,000. He also will receive three years probation.

This is silly and obviously not the truth.  You take a plea deal so you can start the rest of your life?

Reynolds said in an interview that he assumed that staying in office nearly a year after the allegations first surfaced might somehow help him during plea negotiations.

"Once I realized there was no bargaining chip to being in office, I retired," Reynolds said.

I think this pretty much tells us all we need to know about this.   

Redlands: Treasurer "Retires" Amid Scandal

The treasurer of the city of Redlands has announced that he is retiring, effective immediately.  Mike Reynolds is retiring after serving in the capacity for over 25 years. 

About a year ago, he was embroiled in scandal when it came to light that he was allegedly misappropriating funds.

Reynolds faces up to 12 years in prison on three felony counts of misappropriating public funds, falsifying documents and keeping a false record. He was charged in November 2007 with removing $37,880.96 from a Redlands city trust account to cover shortages in his office's petty cash drawer, and then falsifying documents to attempt to conceal his actions.

Reynolds was re-elected last year after the revelations surfaced once the filing deadline had passed.  The Reldands City Council will now decide whether or not to appoint a replacement to fill the remainder of the term or call for a special election.