Beach Parking Fees Not the Answer to Budget Problem

Love the last paragraph. With taxes on the wealthiest among us at an all time low, we will see more ideas like this. There is no conversation about raising taxes, but plenty of conversation on how to make us pay for going to the beach = polytrix

This article is pretty disingenuous on the part of Carbajal, who was the strongest supporter of the Caruso tax plan. Let's not forget the additional expense he fobbed onto the County Justice system with his crusade against medicinal marijuana. This guy puts the sore in DINOsaur.

Make that, Caruso tax gift (huge tax break for a campaign contributor.)

And because spending on entitlements, welfare, and public services are also at an all time high, and with no reform in sight to reduce spending to a level that is within our means, there will be misguided proposals like beach parking to make up the difference.

Raising taxes is not the answer. Robbing Peter to pay Paul does not for sustainability make. Responsible spending does. Otherwise, when the next recession rolls around, we'll be in the exact same place.

Entitlements is too general a term to be taken seriously. Please be specific.
The County only distributes welfare monies, there is no county tax to fund "welfare programs".
Public services are at an all time low, libraries are closing, school years shortened, longer wait times for government processing of licenses ect.
However there does not seem to be a shortage of funds to police Fiesta, harass medicinal marijuana dispensers, get fancy new uniforms, and pay expensive consultants.

Did you know that more Californians qualify for Food Stamps than receive them?

While we must applaud Supervisor Carbajal for being the first on the BOS to publicly reject the terrible beach parking (access) fee proposal , he perpetuates another falsehood in this letter. When he says - " county staff correctly pointed out that such fees would generate much-needed funding to maintain our parks during these difficult times." he is knowingly being disingenous.
Those in attendance at the first Parks Commission hearing learned that there was no intent to keep parking (access) fees within the Parks Dept. County staff told us all that the funds would be deposited into the county general fund.
Please , everyone, remain vigilant and active to maintain the public right to unfettered coastal access. Santa Barbara County will be a better place for it.

The county government has doubled in size in the past decade while the population has stayed about the same. Start laying employees off and drastically reducing compensation and benefits before the whole mess falls apart. Sal - get off the raising revenue crap and deal with the real problem which is spending.

You are one to talk. You voted to build a pool in the middle of nowhere at a cost of over $3,000,000 of designated funds and ongoing costs of over $200,000 from the general fund to subsidize and operate.

Next. You are constitutionally bound by the State of California to submit a balanced budget. It's no great feat to pull up numbers from the sky to fit the equation. Sacramento does it all the time and so have you.

I think FactCheck.Org uses the term "Liar Liar Pants on Fire". Which would be appropriate as related to your wildly creative reformatting of the millions in tax breaks you gave to a billionaire that happens to donate to your campaign as well for a hotel in the 1st District.

As for personnel, under the relatively new BOS management for executive hires. Your first claim to fame was a questionable hire of a Parks supervisor hired outside the normal channels, promoted to Director in less that 6 months. Only to be fired last week. I hope current Community Services Director Herman Parker isn't thrown under the bus as you did senior management of the department over the past two years. I've heard from staff they are both gainfully employed in agencies that appreciate honest, hard working and dedicated administrators.

Oh, and those concessions you brag about include deferrals, monies that will be paid out eventually. Go speak at the Republican convention. Your manner of presentations is better suited to Romney/Ryan.

Salud appears to not know how to reform the structure of county government.
It is actually simply;
Lay off about 30% of the staff.
Give to remaining staff a 20% paycut
Get rid of the defined benefit plan, replace it with at 401k type plan, everyone should be a social security
Reduce the number of holiday and vacation days
Get rid of cola increase
Outsource several areas of government

There is no need to increase revenue

I'd just settle for not giving huge raises to legislative aides, much less pay cuts.

Wow, lots of angry folks here today. Salud is not an unreasonable man, I think we can count on him to listen and do what his constituents want, if for no other reason than that he likes being County Supervisor. I like him better than some of his colleagues, who are so convinced of their righteousness that they don't ever let facts get in the way of their convictions.
Sure, there is some waste in County government. There is waste everywhere in our society, from over-packaged groceries to 4 wheel drive behemoths sold to people who would never consider driving on a dirt road, to walk-in closets big enough for a family of four to live in. Most of us, myself included, could learn to do more with less.
There is no reason to demonize the government in a democratic society. We elected them, remember?
What we should be doing more of is getting involved in our local issues. It seems to have worked in the case of the proposed beach parking fees. Next, let's pay closer attention to our County budget, and see how the money is being spent. I am not necessarily opposed to paying a bit more in taxes, but before I agree, dear County Supervisors, you are going to have to convince me that you are using what I already gave you wisely, and that you are finished with the practice of guaranteeing public workers pensions we cannot afford. You also are going to have to prove to me that you have a plan to maintain and increase our local tax base through responsible, coherent treatment of area businesses from the Miramar to Chick-fil-A and local wineries. We have the natural, human, and economic resources in this community to pull through the current difficulties, so let's focus on solving the problems rather than on assigning blame. We can do this.

Salud is a professional politician, which puts him somewhere below used car salesman and aluminum siding salesman on my personal scale of worthiness. He is a master at using many words to say nothing of value while assuaging all political viewpoints. An empty suit.

And to the posters complaining about breaks for the wealthy, you should read the stats about what income brackets pay how much taxes and then post, for all to read, just how much more you think the wealthy should pay. Or, like Obama, do you believe in even further penalizing success?

Hey Poodles, mine wasn't an angry rant. Check the facts for yourselves. Yes, Salud likes being Supervisor. It's an ego boost for him. He wouldn't know how to work in the real world anymore.

JohnLocke. As we have seen under the reigh of King Bush the Second, all tax breaks for the wealthy did was make them richer. There was no trickle down. The divide between the have's and have nots is growing. This isn't Obama's fault. But there was a point it time in world history when the middle class vanished as the expense of the wealthy. For that, they cut off Marie Antoinette's head.

Obama does not respect individual success. He is, at heart, a Socialist. Read The Audacity of Hope, esp the second half. Bush being wrong does not make Obama right.

Tax breaks for the wealthy? The biggest total tax break goes to homeowners with mortgages that live in high tax states like California. Then to people who receivehealth insurance from their employers (a non-taxable benefit). 144,000 CA citizens pay for one half of California's general fund. A few percent of the population pays over half the federal personal income tax bill. Just how high is high enough? If the feds took ALL the 1%ers income, it would make a barely discernible dent in one year's Obama deficit (per LA Times last Sunday). Either spending must be cut or taxes on a broad swath of taxpayers is required. Blow away all the political BS, envy, and class warefare: it's just math.

Here's an idea. Hollande just raised the top marginal rate on France's millionaires and billionaires to 75%. Let's see how long it takes them to leave. 75% of nothing is nothing.

@JohnLocke: "Obama does not respect individual success. He is, at heart, a Socialist."

Only if your definition of Socialist doesn't include anything involving socialism.

@JohnLocke: "The biggest total tax break goes to homeowners with mortgages that live in high tax states like California."

California is the most populated state in the union and yet doesn't break the top 10 in sales, property or income tax. So how exactly is it a "high state tax" again?

@JohnLocke: "Then to people who receive health insurance from their employers (a non-taxable benefit)."

Wait... what? So you are you suggesting that health care is a benefit and that is should be taxed? Currently, taxpayers are bearing the brunt to the tune of $1400 per family per year in additional premiums to cover the uninsured.

@JohnLocke: "144,000 CA citizens pay for one half of California's general fund."

What an irrelevant and meaningless statistic. People who make over $1,000,000 a year in CA are taxed a whole 1% more than those making $50k-$999k a year. And 9.3% of $50k has a hell of a lot more impact than 10.3% of $1 million.

@JohnLocke: "Hollande just raised the top marginal rate on France's millionaires and billionaires to 75%."

Sure 75% from 41% is nuts, but what JohnLocke won't tell you is that 16 French millionaires and billionaires signed an open letter saying they favored paying more to help their country.

EatTheRich - California is the most populated state in the union and yet doesn't break the top 10 in sales, property or income tax. So how exactly is it a "high state tax" again?

California Sales Tax - Highest in the nation
California Gas Tax - Second Highest in the nation
California Income Tax - One of the most progressive and 5th highest in collections per person in the nation.
California Property Tax - Only 15th highest in the nation. (I guess Prop 13 puts us almost in the middle of the pack)

You do the math

http://taxfoundation.org/state-tax-cl...

We really need to avoid discussions related to the nordic states. The ones with high tax rates and
lowest crime rates
highest levels of education
highly successful mandated health insurance
highest standards of living
financially stable. neither Holland, the Swiss, Finland, Norway are struggling like France or Greece.

My mistake - I was looking at an older data set. However...

"California Sales Tax - Highest in the nation"

Yes the base right is the highest, but factor in the average local tax rates, and CA no longer breaks the top ten. Incidentally, the taxfoundation *does* include that in it's state rankings, which is why CA is ranked 12th on their very own website.

http://taxfoundation.org/article/rank...

California Income Tax - One of the most progressive and 5th highest in collections per person in the nation.

This is basically bull. If you take out the fact that people making $1million a year are taxed 1% higher than people making $48k, the CA tax structure is very similar to a lot of other states. And if you're married - the step comes at $2million, so how many married millionaires are paying the same tax rate as a family making $96K a year?

But I will concede that I was working from an older data set and CA does in fact break the top 10.

@Eat: did you read the book?

Thanks, Botany, but you'll find that Eat prefers his/her own nonsensical math. With the typical shortsightness of the self-styled "progressives" he/she looks at the trees instead of the forest. The top 1% of taxpayers pay nearly half CA's income tax - that's Eat's definition of fairness, except he/she would raise rates on those upper income payers even further.

@Eat: I've asked you many times: How much is enough?

@Eat: It's not that I am calling healthcare benefits - that is what they are called by government, the health care industry, attorneys, etc. And they are deductible by a company as an employee expense and but not taxed to the employee. That is a tax loophole. Either the company or the individual should pay tax on that income just like I pay tax on the income I used to pay for my health care. Again, Eat, trees vs forest.

Oooo - a millionaire paid no tax. So let's create an Alternative Minimum Tax which some years later ensnares an ever larger portion of middle class taxpayers. How 'bout just gross simplification of the tax code. Trees vs. forest.

Ooooo - 13 millionaires said they favored higher tax rates in France. Out of how many? Trees vs. Forest.

But, Eat, you're right about one thing. Obama does not espouse classical socialism. He simply believes that those who are very successful should pay ever more so that half can pay none. He does not respect individual achievement but believes that the government can accomplish whatever is needed. In other words, instead of the workers or society as a whole owning everything (Cuba is an outstanding example of how well that works), he will tax the hell out of those who do own or earn to pay for others. Of course we should help those truly in need, but when half the country pays no taxes and yet people like you (and, apparently most of CA) are screaming for more from the "rich", something is seriously wrong.

FYI, I just took another of those "which political persuasion are you" tests (third different one). On all three I come out slightly left of center, meaning that the Looney Lefties think I'm Rush Limbaugh while the Ridiculous Righties think I'm Nancy Pelosi.

But enough about me. Why do you hate the "rich" so much? Just because they have more than you? Because some meanie fired you (and why might that be?) Because you have nothing and think you never will? Because you're too lazy to work hard and get rich yourself? Because you want to be supported in comfort by someone else? I'm truly curious.

Californian's are the 5th highest taxed state residents in the country. We do NOT have a revenue problem - we have an out of control government spending problem.

RIght on willy88, but just try to tell EatTheRich and his ilk.

Hmm, Eatsie hasn't posted since Friday. Could it be that he's only online while "employed"? Unethically using his employer's computer and being paid to post?

Bad idea just like the Adventure pass.

@JohnLocke: " Because you're too lazy to work hard and get rich yourself? Because you want to be supported in comfort by someone else? I'm truly curious."

You truly are a miserable person.

Not that it's any of your business, I work full time (in the private sector, just in case you were going that direction) while managing a humble consulting business on the side. My wife and I make significantly more than the national family average income. I work - on average - 50 to 60 hours a week (and these days spending more time in NYC for work, like I am right now, hence the reason I don't live in the comments section like you do). But I have no complaints - I work hard by choice because I really enjoy the work.

I'm also not a self-entitled prat and I have no illusions as to how I got be successful. And I am well aware, having worked since I was 14 years old - that I had advantages that many people will never come close to having in their lifetime. Unlike yourself, I don't feel entitled to things just because I have them, and I don't take anything for granted. Unlike yourself, you whine and complain about how difficult it is for you (hey - maybe if you focused more on your own business instead of minding everyone else's, your own business would be more successful), I understand that *my* success is built on the backs of people who make a lot less than I do and deserve to be treated with respect and dignity. Unlike yourself, I have an appreciation for the people who truly make Santa Barbara function daily - and it's the very people that you like to crap on whenever something doesn't go *your* way.

People like you want teachers to take less money for taking care of your bratty kids. People like you want the city workers to take less money and then complain when services decline. People like you want government to act more like a business - which means charging for services (like this parking fee) instead of having a system where everyone contributes and everyone gets access. People like you think only certain "kinds" of people are entitled to dignity and respect, and that only certain "kinds" of people deserve to live in Santa Barbara. Frankly, I'd take the teachers and service workers over people like you any day of the week.

But hey, call me names, make up some image about me that suits you so you can complain about how hard it is for you to make it a living. Oh and taxes! And Obama's a socialist! And Nazis! And whatever other B.S. boogieman, red herring, nonsensical argument that drops into that warped brain of yours. Thank goodness the only place you can be heard is in the comments section of a website.

The good news - most people with any rational sense see through people like you. You're being left behind. People with your political views... you're dinosaurs. And evolution is a bitch.