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Edward Ring

City of Stanton Proposes Higher Taxes Instead of Cutting Pay and Benefits

On November 4th, voters in Stanton, California, will be asked to vote on a 1.0% sales tax increase, which if approved will raise their sales tax to 9.0% – the highest in Orange County. Nestled in the heart of Orange County, tiny Stanton, a city of barely three square miles in size with a population in 2012 of 38,915 residents, is an unlikely candidate for the spotlight, when California’s local ballots are about to be inundated with over140 local tax increasesaffecting many cities and counties that are ten times bigger. ButStanton is ground zero in a battle over how to manage municipal budget deficits, because if their voters approve this tax increase, cities throughout Orange County will follow suit.

We’re not talking small potatoes here. Stanton currently only retains 1.0% (one-eighth) of the 8.0% sales tax they currently collect. According to Stanton’sConsolidated Annual Financial Reportfor the fiscal… Read More

Edward Ring

The Average Orange County Firefighter’s Total Compensation is $234,000 per Year

Most fire fighters do not get Social Security, so they completely count on the pensions they have contributed to, been promised and earned over a career. Take their pensions away or cut their pensions and you have fire fighters who risked their lives over a career to save others living in destitution, on public assistance, meaning the taxpayers have to foot that bill, too.

– Harold A. Schaitberger,President of the International Association of Fire Fighters, Press Release Sept. 26, 2013

The implication in Mr. Schaitberger’s remark, apparently, is that $234,000 per year isn’t enough to permit someone to save enough money to avoid “living in destitution.”

Here’s how Orange County’s full-time firefighters did in 2011, according to data from their own website (ref.OCFA Employee Compensation,2011 – Grand Jury Format). Anyone who wishes to verify all of the calculations referenced in this post can… Read More