Editor,
Former Mayor Mark Olbert’s April 12, opinion piece caused me to cringe and give thanks he no longer sits on the San Carlos City Council for he makes clear his position that the city should have spent far more of the city’s substantial reserves during the pandemic than it did (“City should have used more reserves for pandemic”).
Mr. Olbert advocates for all kinds of local government giveaways in the face of the pandemic: money to help people keep their homes and make ends meet after being laid off; money to businesses to help them survive; money to buy kids needed computers or internet access to keep up with school; and money to school districts struggling with the sudden shift to at-home learning. Noble causes, for sure, but not necessarily the role of our local government. Mr. Olbert even laments the council’s decision to prepay some of the city’s pension liabilities even though he surely knows what serious financial trouble many local governments up and down the Peninsula find themselves facing in the nature of unfunded pension liabilities.
Congratulation to those on the council who reined in their desire to spend more of the city’s reserves even on noble-sounding causes. I hope that decision was due, in no small part, to the desire to avoid local government giveaways and a recognition that if the city has significant reserves, it is only because it collected too much in taxes from its hard-working, taxpaying citizens whose money the city holds in trust.
Bill Garrett
San Carlos
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(1) comment
Mr. Garrett, don’t you feel that if our so-called leaders shut down businesses due to questionable and unproven evidence, removing sources of owner and employee income, these so-called leaders should atone for their mistakes and try to make these victims whole? If our so-called leaders aren’t going to atone for their mistake, what are they holding on to all this money for? What would you hold the money for? An apocalypse – with money forever unspent? If we’re going to use any funds, I’d prefer it go back to taxpayers, after all it’s our money. However, since there are significant reserves, there should be fewer taxes and fees. But you know CA, gotta keep the gravy train rolling to pay for all those rising pensions and benefits.
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