The city has to learn the hard way

EDITOR’S NOTEBOOK

When I was about 2, I was sitting on the edge of the kitchen counter

while my mom was baking. (I can’t remember why, because sitting on

the counter was strictly forbidden.) After the oven was up to

temperature, my mother realized the oven racks were in the wrong

places. She took one out and set it on the counter while she moved

the second rack.

She probably figured I wasn’t dumb enough to touch it. I was, and

I burnt my fingers. It was a painful lesson, but one that stuck.

Why is it the city of Huntington Beach keeps reaching for that

oven rack?

The City Council on Monday night reinstated an archaic property

tax override, which they say is legal this time because it was voted

on before Proposition 13 was passed in 1978 to pay for employee

retirement benefits.

Enough is enough. Instead of finding ways to circumvent the law

and charge homeowners taxes that would not be legal to pass now (for

a reason), solve the real problem: bloated employee benefits.

It’s time to revamp the system that many have criticized for

years. Attractive employee benefits are one thing, but when the city

has to repeatedly rob the residents to pay off people who are pulling

tens of thousands of dollars from the city each year for being

retired, it’s time to rethink what we’re doing. Why any of us have

jobs outside the city is a mystery to me. I keep thinking that if I

were smart, I’d apply for a job with the city rather than point out

how absurd these benefit packages are.

But it’s got to end sooner or later. Working for the city

shouldn’t be the most lucrative job around when it comes out of

taxpayers pockets and out streets and sidewalks are is dire

disrepair.

But that is the problem. There is no business owner at the top of

this organization to say, “Wait a minute. Why am I giving away the

store?”

With the lagging economy, any good business owner would rethink

these contracts when they are up for renegotiation in October and

December.

They’d tell employees, “We just can’t afford to pay that anymore.”

Residents, represented by council members, are those business

owners. And only one council member seems to see the bottom line.

“There is a serious poison pill in this city, and that is

excessive benefits, and it’s just going up and up and up,” Councilman

Dave Sullivan declared at Monday night’s meeting. And right he is.

* DANETTE GOULET is the city editor. She can be reached at (714)

965-7170 or by e-mail at [email protected].