TOWN OF MAMMOTH LAKES INVITES RESIDENTS AND BUSINESS OWNERS TO COMPLETE AN ONLINE SURVEY REGARDING THE PROPOSED RESTRUCTURING PLAN (Town press release)
Mammoth Lakes, California, October 10, 2012 – The Town of Mammoth Lakes is seeking input from residents and business owners of the Town through an online Resident Survey, available at this address: www.surveymonkey.com/s/T6BMDGH and at the Town’s website – http://www.ci.mammoth-lakes.ca.us/.
The Survey seeks comments on the Town’s proposed Restructuring Plan, which calls for significant reductions in expenditures to help pay $2 million annually to Mammoth Lakes Land Acquisition (MLLA) and divert over $111,000 annually to the Ballas entities (the Airport’s original Developer). The proposed reductions include the elimination of up to 13 Town positions, including up to 7.0 police sworn jobs, and discontinuing the Town’s 50% funding for the Whitmore Pool and Park.
TOWN RESIDENTS AND BUSINESS OWNERS ARE ASKED TO COMPLETE THE SURVEY AS SOON AS POSSIBLE, BUT NO LATER THAN THE EVENING OF SUNDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2012. The Town plans to present the survey’s results at the November 7, 2012 public meeting, when the Town Council is scheduled to have their deliberation of the proposed Restructuring Plan, in preparation for the December 5, 2012 vote. If you have questions or experience technical difficulties with this survey, please email [email protected], or call (760) 934-8989, extension 223.
I did my math wrong (duh). A .25% tax increase would yield $500,000 (not $5mm) in revenue on a $200,000,000 Dollar tax base.
One thing the citizens of Mammoth need to know that creating a survey is not as easy as you think. I have created many online surveys for my business and the first several were crap. Creating the questions in the correct way that gives you actionable information is not as… Read more »
You know what we’ve failed to debate here guys, is the cops unwilling to take a pay cut. The council wants to reduce their budget, so the cops could unite and agree to take a 20% cut rather than let the younger officers go, but not one cop has offered… Read more »
Sara – I am fairly sure the cops already took a 24% pay cut last summer. Now talking about solutions – I would like to see all employees take a small % pay cut, and perhaps add a small % increase in the overall sales tax to balance the budget.… Read more »
With Prop R, sales tax in Mammoth Lakes is 8.75% already. Enough is too much….
The cops have been taking cuts for years. Their last one was 24%. Now they don’t know if they will have a job in 8 months. The majority will leave the area and go where they can have job security. Mammoth PD will then die. It will be impossible to… Read more »
Rather than signing another agreement with Ballas which will in all likelihood lead to further litigation if not tomorrow then 20 years down the road, give him a one time payment of whatever you can afford today and be done with him. Hasn’t the town learned anything from the last… Read more »
Ballas is not the problem. Stupid decisions by the Town Council is.
Nobody is going to resign, Ken. That much is clear. That might lead to investigations and/or evidentiary hearings that just might uncover some severe graft (palm-greasing) going on. This sort of thing has been commonplace in this community forever. (Do you think the current mayor is a developer by coincidence?)… Read more »
Can we say “CITY OF BELL”
Ken, As a business owner I say no more taxes, it easy for a guy with a pay check to tax about taxing us more. We are not going to solve problems by taxing us more. Get a fing balanced budget for God sakes and fire the two over paid… Read more »
In essence, I agree with you. There’s enough taxes. We can start by repealing A; T; R and U. And I think we can find a balanced budget by eliminating expenditures that can be worthwhile in better times, but now, we simply can’t afford like Tourism expenditures, public housing expenditures,… Read more »
@Steve
This is all they know.. It’s all about protecting themselves and their Wild Pensions.
Mammoth has been living in the time of the Wild West..
Spend spend spend…Tax Tax TAX TAX
GGW
The survey is fine to take and does allow for different options/solutions/answers. The above statement from a poster is incorrect b/c they quit the survey: “Seems the town is tipping its hand by giving only the choices of slash police staffing or levy a tax.” Instead of not taking the… Read more »
There are no multiple choice options regarding reducing community development, recreation staff, public works maintenance, Steve Searles $60k per year salary, and outsourcing airport staff. So while it is not a terrible survey, it is certainly not comprehensive to say the least. There is a comment section at the end… Read more »
Didn’t realize town council members receive health/dental/vision benefits as part of their deal for being on the town council. I agree with H, I’d much rather put those funds towards a police officer’s salary or keeping Whitmore Pool open (considering both options provide a service that benefits an entire community)… Read more »
Until the citizens of Mammoth find the guts to storm the Bastille, those they’ve elected will continue laughing at them (all the way to the bank).
I’ve looked this up, H, and the council costs the town $80k a year with their $300 a month income and health benefits. Not too bad for 5 people working 30 hours a week, regardless of how well they are doing their jobs. That being said, I thought the survey… Read more »
They ran for town council knowing it was not a paid position and hopefully, fully aware of the time commitment that such a position would entail. So whether it’s $80K or $120K – it’s still too much and I’d still rather see those funds go towards funding a police officer’s… Read more »
I understand this is a huge problem but everyone better get on board and figure this out soon. The snow will come and so will the people if we dont have Cops,Public works and the rest of the town emplyees this town will go back to the county and we… Read more »
The survey would not let me proceed beyond page 3 unless I made a choice. None of the choices are acceptable to me. The police department is already well below minimum staffing, so I strongly oppose reducing it further. But I will not be conned into believing a tax is… Read more »
I just took the questionnaire. It’s not as bad as it could have been. There are ways to indicate support for the P.D. while not supporting general taxes. The Business community would be taxed according to the logic of the questionnaire but that’s ok with me. The last question asks… Read more »
Ken, I agree; eliminate asst town manager. I also agree with eliminating affordable housing, however, my income is based on tourism, as many others in town. I’ve seen a difference in my business with the growth of the airport, bringing international visitors we’ve never had before. The marketing department does… Read more »
Well you live in a resort area and the mountain is going to keep advertising more and more so I dont think you are going to lose anyone by getting rid of the tourisum department. Sorry!!!!!!!!!!
To all town officials… If you need a survey, you don’t know what you are doing. All you do is throw spaghetti at the wall and see what sticks. This just reinforces every bad decision you have ever made. It’s time to quit, move aside for someone who knows how… Read more »
This survey is a sham. Do you actually expect us to believe that you suddenly came up with this survey in response to the community’s upset over the PD and Whitmore cuts? Yeah right, the council planned this from the beginning. Let’s just pick the two things that people get… Read more »
I agree with you that most governmental entities have a plan to “Tax” in order to make theri budgets work…But I think this Council is realistically looking for options. This Council is made up as as Volunteers…$300 a month plus Health Insurnace is not compensation for the work that they… Read more »
I started the survey and found it flawed by page 3. I do not support the proposed cuts to the police departement, nor do I endorse some form of tax. There was no “None of the above” choice, so I quit the survey. Seems the town is tipping its hand… Read more »
That’s a common strategy. They always give you the “choice” of what they want or something much, much worse without any other options.
The notion of “Public Input” really means that the Public has to bend over and … well you know the rest.
@ Ken
we seem to be on the same page today
GGW
I agree with Ingrid that this is not actually a survey, but instead, is to provide cover for poor decisions already being implemented. Actions include scapgoating Ballas and MLLA, as if they are the ones that forced the town onto the path of Greed and Arrogance. No mention is being… Read more »
Too little – too late.
Recall Eastman and Woods.
Since when do they care about what the people think??
What a scam
GGW
The useless survey has been revised. You can now make more choices and write in comments.
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/T6BMDGH
B. Richter
Here’s my questionair: Every time the Town Council does something stupid, I think to my self, can they get any more stupid? And then they do something that is even dumber — like cutting the police force and sacrificing public safety while housing and tourism both spend more money than… Read more »
Will there be an independent, non-government citizen on hand to review the results of the survvey?