Some items from The Rio Linda Elverta News,
March 4, 2004:
KCRA-TV Channel 3
hatchets Water District
Watching the County (Sacramento County Taxpayers
League)
Ready for Broadband Internet?
Watching the County
From
the Taxpayers League's "Tax Fax"
The
County's Community Governance Proposal
The Sacramento Bee writes that the County Supervisors are considering
reorganizing some of its existing 15 Community Planning Advisory
Councils (CPACs) into eight Community Councils with more direct
authority for solving neighborhood issues. The County has about 545,000
residents in the unincorporated area for whom they have to provide a
myriad of services.
The eight new Community Councils would cover following areas:
Arden/Arcade, Carmichael, North Highlands/Antelope, Fair Oaks,
Orangevale, Rio Linda/Elverta, South Sacramento, and Vineyard.
A Council would have the authority to approve or reject certain local
projects, almost as if it were a City Council. However, the Board of
Supervisors would retain the final decision over some decisions, but
may impose on itself a new requirement. It would require a vote by at
least four Supervisors to overturn a decision of the Community Council.
There will be costs involved as a result of decentralization of
services and exercise of increased powers to the Councils, which could
reach about $500,000 a year. We will continue to monitor this process,
and provide progress reports as events unfold.
CSA 11 - The County's new way to tax us
Supervisor Roger Niello differed with the other Supervisors, voting
against the creation of a new "service area" intended to provide a
means for County taxpayers to agree to a new tax scheme. Geoffrey
Davey, the County's Chief Financial Officer, proposed County Service
Area 11 (CSA 11) to the Board of Supervisors as a means for "providing
a replacement revenue source for certain items that are cut in the
budget".
Interestingly, CSA 11 covers exactly the same area as the the County's
"Community Governance Proposal" that is touted as a means to provide
Community control over local issues. What's going to pay for this, CSA
11?
Niello seems to share this concern. He suggested the problem is
one of perception, saying "..we engage the communities in community
issues and the challenges that we're about and they can probably help
us navigate the challenges of the present and the future, and the
unfortunate possible perception is that we didn't really mean that, and
we're going to go ahead and tee this football up for a tax
increase anyway".
When opposing the motion, Niello said "The notion of the Community
Councils and the initiatives that we are talking about launching was to
involve the communities in the problem solving", confirming his concern
that CSA 11 could cloud the "Community Governance Proposal."
Supervisors Johnson, Dickinson and Nottoli expressed their concern
about the viability of passing a tax issue on the November ballot, yet
they agreed to spend the $50,000 necessary to submit the CSA 11
proposal to LAFCo. After LAFCo approves the application, the County
will spend at least another $60,000 before the Supervisors can ask the
voters to approve an additional tax. The Supervisors must pass the
ballot issue with a 4/5 vote, and approval of a tax will require a 2/3
voter majority.
The Tax Fax is a
monthly publication of the Sacramento County Taxpayers League. http://sactax.org
Published in Rio Linda
Elverta News March 4, 2004 - Scroll for other articles
Ready
for Broadband Internet?
by Jay O'Brien
"There will be a new, fast, simple and reasonably priced solution
coming to Rio Linda soon", according to Dan Mackey, Marketing Director
for Chico-based Digital Path Networks.
Digital Path's technology is a high-speed, fixed-wireless service that
uses "Relay points" to bring the internet signal to each neighborhood.
Digital Path's central "gateway" beams the signal via radio waves to
the neighborhood relay points. Phone lines, towers or satellites are
not involved.
The service can be 50 times faster than dial-up. Pricing will be as low
as $19.95 per month.
Mackey, describing the Digital Path network planned for Rio Linda,
said "We will be starting build out sometime in March and should
have a majority of the network built there mid April."
Stay tuned, The NEWS will keep you informed.
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