(corrected) Crumbling roads and $76.6 billion Sonoma Property Tax revenue?

[Alex]

BILLION.

SONOMA COUNTY PROPERTY TAX : $ 76.6 BILLION
CALIFORNIA TOTAL 2015 SPENDING: $454.0 BILLION



This PD headline....
Sonoma County’s property tax roll reaches record $76.6 billion
https://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/4...perty-tax-roll

...jumped out at me 3 days ago and it's hard to believe the distribution of this staggering amount of money couldn't be better managed. I'll never forget my son's class advisor at El Molino cringing when the need to use a couple sheets of paper to make some copies came up and his strained comment full of apology and disbelief "we really have to watch our use of paper".... implying "there isn't enough money for even foundationally important things..."

I admit I haven't dug into how this money is being spent, but it's really, really hard to believe there couldn't be much better allocation including for roads, schools and services that benefit the taxpayers. Where is all this money going??

[rekarp]

The main thing that you need to understand is that the $76.6 billion represents the assessed value of taxable property in Sonoma County. The actual tax that the county receives is a fraction of that.

This PD headline....
Sonoma County’s property tax roll reaches record $76.6 billion
https://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/4...perty-tax-roll
...

[Alex]

The main thing that you need to understand is that the $76.6 billion represents the assessed value of taxable property in Sonoma County. The actual tax that the county receives is a fraction of that.

Thank you, yes I misread the headline as the property tax income, not the sum of property value. I looked up the budget, the amount Sonoma County has to distribute is $1.5 billion.

https://www.sonoma-county.org/audito...al_reports.htm

However, then it makes it much less justifiable for Gorin to waste $1,000.000.00 on pushing fluoride as was recently disclosed in the Gazette. Gorin quietly dropped the issue she was so loud about for so long refusing to answer any questions about it. The speculation in the Gazette was that it was purely a political manipulation to disconnect her name from the issue in time enough to get re-elected and then push it again after.

It's hard to swallow how much better spent this $1,000.000.00 could have been when school admins are scrimping sheets of paper. Common sense tells you where there's one example of waste this big, there could be many more.

Thanks again.

[rossmen]

your answer is public information, just look it up. my experience many times over is that there is a corrupt scratch each others back culture in sonoma county local government between elected officials and staff. the elected official willing to challenge staff is rare and will be continuously targeted by staff and other elected officials. given this situation the fastest growing budget items are salary and pension costs. maintenance of public infrastructure becomes a low priority and when the public complains the response is additional tax.

[jbox]

Uh, what this means is that property values in Sonoma County are $76.6 billion. Taxes are based on that. Just read the article you referred to, Alex. Also, don't believe everything you think.....

[podfish]

guess what. They're not spending $76.6 billion. That's the value of the property being taxed. There's what, a half million in the county? $150,000 per resident spending if that were true? The actual spending is more like $1000 per resident which won't pay for the paving in front of everyone's house even if that's the only county spending. A little critical thinking might make life less interesting but would give a better picture of reality...

"Sonoma County’s property tax assessment roll reached a record-high $76.6 billion this year — evidence of a remarkable recovery in post-recession home values and enough to generate a bonus $3.6 million in projected general fund revenue above what was anticipated, county officials said.
The news is good for county officials, whose operational budgets depend heavily on property tax revenues. Nearly half, or 47 percent, of this year’s $421 million general fund is expected to come from property taxes, Deputy County Administrator Christina Rivera said. "

(pretty funny - I guess this shows how many Wacco readers approach the site - responding as the mail hits, rather than going through them on the site! .. a nice run of equivalent responses!)

[Alex]

Uh, what this means is that property values in Sonoma County are $76.6 billion. Taxes are based on that. Just read the article you referred to, Alex. Also, don't believe everything you think.....

(to use your tone) Uh, just read the rest of the thread before posing pithy redundant corrections. So much for living up to your own advice. You believed your thinking that I was not yet informed of the error, but the error had already been both pointed out and immediately acknowledged and corrected long before your comment.

Same for the anxious to be righteous podfish redundancy... To both of you: the kindergarten class in forums is that threads are sequential and all responses should be read before adding to a conversation.

I misinterpreted the headline, didn't read the article and never have a problem admitting an error, the truth is the point. I'm used to expecting the worst and not being surprised anymore by any extreme when it comes to elected representatives like rossman pointed out. The intention was for Sonoma county benefit.

....my experience many times over is that there is a corrupt scratch each others back culture in sonoma county local government between elected officials and staff. the elected official willing to challenge staff is rare and will be continuously targeted by staff and other elected officials. given this situation the fastest growing budget items are salary and pension costs. maintenance of public infrastructure becomes a low priority and when the public complains the response is additional tax.

What a direct, accurate and ugly true summary. To keep re-electing the obviously corrupted players makes it the voters fault, but is there any chance that anyone doesn't get corrupted after winning and getting pressured with big heat after taking office?

[podfish]

...Same for the anxious to be righteous podfish redundancy... To both of you: the kindergarten class in forums is that threads are sequential and all responses should be read before adding to a conversation.

"righteous"? I prefer "snarky". When I was in kindergarten there were no forae, (we spoke bad latin, but had no interweb) and anyway, I reject any authority telling me what responses "should" be.

[jbox]

Uh, OK, apology accepted, I guess. My advice still stands, don't believe everything you think.....