Over the past couple of weeks I've received confusing questions from Wildomar residents with concerns about Measure Z. Here are some examples:
- "I'm told by people that we'll pay more for park maintenance than New York City"
- "I'm told by people that we will pay more for park irrigation than Mississippi"
- "I'm told by people that the City will probably spend the Measure Z funds on things other than parks"
There is a lot of, shall we call it, "misleading" information, being thrown around regarding Measure Z. Generally trying to understand any measure can be confusing, but oddly enough the gossip about Measure Z is more confusing than the measure itself. The actual adopted resolution is available for reading at this site: http://www.wildomarparkz.com/documents/AdoptedResolution.pdf
The City resolution simply states: The annual $28 tax (about $2 a month) that would be paid (by Wildomar property owners) would be be used solely for operation and maintenance of city parks in Wildomar. Funds shall be used to keep the parks clean and safe, that all expenditures shall be audited annually and the City will create a "Citizen" oversight committee to advise the City Council on expenses and provide input from the community of what Wildomar wants from its parks. None of the Measure Z funds can be spent on anything but direct park related costs.
There should be no confusion regarding Measure Z. The only real question is, "Do we want Parks in Wildomar?" If you believe Wildomar should have parks, but still have concerns regarding the use of Measure Z's funds, please sign up with the City to be on the Oversight Committee or to receive that committee’s monthly Council report.
I believe Wildomar, like all cities, benefits from having parks. When you go to the polls this time, please vote “YES” on Measure Z.
3.18.020-Purpose. The tax authorized by the chapter is solely for the purpose of raising revenue to pay for the availability of and the funding, repair, operating and maintenance of community parks and COMMUNITY PARK RELATED FACILITIES, PROGRAMS AND SERVICES within the City of Wildomar. The tax is not imposed as an “ad valorem” tax on real property, nor a transaction tax or sales tax on the sale of real property. The proceeds of the tax will be deposited in a special fund and shall be restricted for the purposes stated above. As such, the tax is a special tax. The facebook page operated by Citizens for Wildomar Parks promises a splash zone and community center as possibilities is Measure Z is passed. According to the 2012 Developer Impact Fee study done for the city a community center would cost $8,300,000.00 in today's dollars, which means the city would have to collect this tax for the next 24 years without spending a dime of it to pay for this community center assuming there is no inflation. Just say no thank you.
In the well known community phrase, "Parks and Recreation", the, "COMMUNITY PARK RELATED FACILITIES, PROGRAMS AND SERVICES" is legalese for the recreation portion. But I'm pretty sure you had already figured that out. All of our surrounding cities started with a small number of parks and limited services, but by passing a parks tax it gave them options and opportunities to expand their parks over time. Without a parks tax you lose those options and opportunities. You have to start somewhere. Yes, that brings it back to the only real question for Measure Z. Do the citizens of Wildomar want to have parks or do they want to be, “The city without any city parks”. I'm hopeful the citizens of Wildomar will vote to plant the seed of parks so we can find ways to make them grow.
You're so enamored with other cities parks maybe you should have moved to one of them. Wildomar currently has 3 parks which the citizens have voted on twice not to pay additional taxes to maintain. The one time this park tax was passed it only passed because the county formed a LMD (Lighting and Maintenance District) that left out the areas of Wildomar that already had their own private facilities, otherwise that measure would have failed also. You mention all the additional taxes other cities pay for their facilities. Let's take a community center for an instance. At the current projected cost in a city study this would require spending $8,300,000.00 today. This would require floating bonds to pay for it which would require the taxpayers voting for an additional tax starting around $65.00 per parcel annually, by the time this bond was paid off in 20 years this tax would have increased to $96.00 annually plus the $28.00 Measure Z is asking for, just for one building. Now you are up to $93.00 to start, lets add the Splash Zone, to build and maintain another $28.00 per parcel and on and on and on. Next the city will decide the don't want to pay for police and we need a special tax for that at the current budget that's only another $160.00 per parcel. This is all on top of the current property taxes one pays.
And for any readers who would doubt these words or John's real intentions you can check out his application for the city manager job back in the day, and also his Facebook exchanges with his brother about seeking the long anticipated job of Wildomar Parks and Recreation Director or Manager. We live in the modern world of the internet and easy access to what people have said and done in the past. It’s all out there on the web. There is nothing "misleading" about what the growing number of Measure "Z" opponents are saying. We are just filling in the missing information the super slick consultants and city parks proponents carefully left out of all the “information” they are distributing. This is really about money! The City of Wildomar and their cronies want more of ours in the form of new and bigger taxes. Those of us who have been here for decades and remember the financial mess the Ortega Trails group dragged us into with their attempts to constantly expand parks programs and double and triple the original parks tax, NO ON MEASURE “Z” is the answer. For those interested in more facts: Read about the HIDDEN AGENDA. If you are willing to look, it really isn't hard to find. http://wildomarmagazine.wordpress.com/
You disappoint me, you have single handedly turned the discussion of this unwarranted an unnecessary tax into a personal issue. You may have tipped the tide of many on the sideline toward the wrong side. The only agenda here is that the city council does not feel parks are necessary otherwise they would find a way to fund them from the general fund. To ask the taxpayer for additional funds when they have failed to even try to fund them out of the 6 1/2 million dollars they already have in general funds is unconscionable.
It is false to tell people that the only way to retain Wildomar's parks is to vote for this poorly conceived Measure "Z" tax. This is not the "do or die" situation you are implying - at least not for the citizens of Wildomar. If Measure "Z" is defeated it would send a clear message to the city council that they had produced yet another unsatisfactory tax proposal that was too ambitious in its scope, too expensive in its cost, and lacked the necessary clear planning to assure the taxpayers revenues would be spent correctly. Perhaps it would then dawn on the council that they needed to roll up their sleeves and do the detailed planning to provide a good, well-understood foundation for a parks program. You will note that I didn't say that they should once again hire a slick bunch of highly paid consultants and attorneys, but actually do the work themselves in a properly agendized council meeting or workshop where they actually listened to Wildomar's people rather than dictating to them. Measure "Z" is not a good proposal and I hope people will not accept it. We should hold out for something better that will actually limit the expansion of parks programs and the need for ever increasing demands for more new taxes.
John simply hasn’t responded because Prov. 9:7 states “Whoever corrects a mocker invites insult. He’s tired, I’m tired, we are all tired of the b.s.. The vote is absolutely in the hands of the citizens that can hopefully see truth. To base truth statements on someone else’s blog/opinions is shear folly. John did apply for the City Manager job and he would have been a great choice. He runs a half a million square foot facility and deals with contract services for everything from grounds keeper to security, food services to Homeland Security and much, much more. His build out projects come in within budget and sometimes under. His projects save the company hundreds of thousands if not over a million annually. Frankly, the city would have been in a much better place now, but I am biased.
He has no intention of applying for any position with the city. His background wouldn’t make him a good candidate if the job was actually posted. We moved to Riverside in 2001 from Riverside not only to make his commute to Temecula much easier. Truth be told, we also needed a change because John’s son, Brandon passed away from bacterial meningitis at the house in 1997. We moved from a neighborhood that was blocks from Hunt Park. Our Community Parks and Recreations programs literally saved us and gave us the ability to get involved in life. We couldn’t put one foot in front of the other without running into a brick wall of grief. We kept moving forward for our twin 4 year old girls and the park and rec system gave us that ability to find resources that we could afford and that were local. We used the community center for $5 classes such as Fun 4 Fours, Karate, Soccer, Baseball, Easter Egg Hunts. We had a balloon release for Brandon’s remembrance of life. We met for family reunions. The list goes on. His only motive is to be able to give others the choice to vote on the opportunity to access programs available in other cities. Parks are a connection to the community to us. Nuff said.
Life seems to eat away at some people who waste their lives on hate, destruction and winning what? If people where taking on such a bitter campaign against the parks for a big fee a year, maybe you could see a reason for this opposition to having parks for our children and families to get to gather for reunions, etc. Please say yes on Z. We can save our parks. As for wanting to work for a community you love, so what. I would love to know that we had people employed that love the community.