Journalism won’t die if you donate. Support Voice of San Diego today!
Proud to count her as a loyal reader, I pass along the thoughts of April Boling, former chairwoman of the city of San Diego’s Pension Reform Committee.
She was talking about my recent column about the city of Chula Vista and its own mounting liabilities.
It’s just all part of a painfully predictable pattern:
The early crew gets to be the good guys: new projects, better employee benefits and grandiose plans.
The second crew gets the bad part: actually having to answer increasingly tough financial questions.
Then the third crew comes in and says “Wow! Look at this mess caused by my predecessors! They should never have done that…and I certainly wouldn’t have…but now that we’re here, we have no choice but to raise taxes.”
Chula Vista is at the end of stage one. The County is in stage two. The City of San Diego is at the end of stage two, entering stage three. And as soon as the taxes get raised, the process starts over. Like re-booting your computer.
Does that mean Boling, a prominent local Republican, suspects that Mayor Jerry Sanders, et. al. will start to push for new taxes someday soon? Sounds like it.