Comments on: McLean Wins By near SUPER MAJORITY

By: Flyhead

Flyhead — Thu, 12 Dec 2019 22:55:55 +0000

Bieter lost due to his persistence in spending money without thought to those stuck paying for his flights of fancy. The railroad to nowhere, the new library and sports stadium. I am sure there are others but these are the ones that stick out in my mind.
The biggest fraud on taxpayers is the 3% limit on increases in property tax. New growth does not figure into the the 3% and isn’t even part of the next year in property tax increases. That is why we see double digit increases in property taxes and they have the nerve to say they are holding the line on property taxes.
I would like to see efficiency experts audit both city and county government positions to validate the actual need for the large payrolls we see. Deloitte and Touche is a company that comes to my mind for this effort.

By: Easterner

Easterner — Tue, 10 Dec 2019 23:16:10 +0000

breaking it down by precincts

Bieter did not exceed 50% in any of the city precincts.

Precincts with the highest turn-out showed about 66% for McClean
Precincts with the lowest turn-out showed about 64% for McClean

McClean’s highest % was #1904 [Bogart/Hill Road] @ 84%

Bieter’s highest % (50%)was #2103 [Victory/Maple Grove] with only 100 votes cast. His next highest and reasonable (more than 100 voters) was #1503 [Chinden/Five Mile] with 47% support and 32% turn-out.

Conclusion – turn-out did not make a difference and the location did not make a difference.

By: Property Tax Working Group

Property Tax Working Group — Tue, 10 Dec 2019 16:25:56 +0000

Boise’s reply to the Idaho Property Tax Working Group’s recent survey for cities regarding fiscal health and future challenges: November 18, 2019

Provide a summary of your city’s fiscal situation as you begin the new year:
Boise: The base budget for the City of Boise is balanced, however with rapid population growth, cost increases are anticipated. Apart from normal cost increases (personnel costs, construction costs, non-personnel- e.g., fuel, software maintenance) costs associated with growth (e.g. new police officers, new fire stations, new parks maintenance, etc.) are anticipated. At this time, the City is actively working to accommodate these costs, however tradeoffs will be required. Property taxes comprise approximately 66% of the City’s General Fund revenues, and personnel (current levels) comprises approximately 66% of General Fund expenditures. In the present environment, it will be difficult for the City to keep up with increasing growth and expectations (although we are trying very hard). To the extent revenues are reduced, personnel will certainly need to be reduced, and it will be very difficult to respond to growth. The City is a major contributor to VRT (in the absence of other local dedicated funding), so public transportation would also take a hit. The City has actively worked to establish a modest “rainy day fund” of 8% in the General Fund.

What are the biggest fiscal challenges facing your city in the next 12 months:
Boise: Potential reductions to property tax/sales tax, responding to growth (additional personnel is required that revenues on their own cannot support) increasing construction costs, growing/maintaining the public transportation system (difficult given current funding situation), keeping up with repairs and maintenance (e.g. facilities and parks), rapidly increasing software maintenance and workers compensation costs.

Thank goodness the citizens applied common sense and spoke up by voting for the library and stadium petitions, otherwise the city would have just doubled-down on their fiscal challenges and used “rainy day funds” for non-critical expenditures. All the while the 3% budget increase each year simply tracks the increase in personnel costs. This expenditure does have control levers, but the city chooses not to pull any.

By: More Consulting Contracts

More Consulting Contracts — Tue, 10 Dec 2019 16:02:26 +0000

Bieter will be squeezing in a few more contracts on the Dec. 10 City Council Agenda . . .

$100,000 for Media Research & Buying Services . . . the council agenda does not provide specifics as to what will be researched or bought (RES-526-19).

$150,000 each for another 2 contracts for Land Planning & Design Services “to advance our vision to Redefine Downtown, Connect the Community, Energize Our Neighborhoods, Embrace Our Edge, and Leverage Landholdings.” Both of these contracts have been renewed 5 times (RES-573-19 & RES-574-19).

By: getting priorities right

getting priorities right — Sun, 08 Dec 2019 18:44:16 +0000

I hope she will prove to be a good and decisive manager, not a story teller. Of the city departments that are making news right now she has police, fire and library. The police, so reports are saying, are having some problems with a hostile work environment. The fire teams are stretched, too thin, they need some stations, and the outgoing library manager may attempt to puppeteer the organization in absentia. In all cases there are many secrets and the employee morale is suffering. If she asks the right questions of the rank and file she will be immediately more effective.

By: busboy

busboy — Sat, 07 Dec 2019 14:56:20 +0000

She’ll be a one termer for sure. She would fit in better in Seattle or Portland.

By: Foothills Rider

Foothills Rider — Sat, 07 Dec 2019 00:47:37 +0000

Add to Mr. Guardian’s to-do list:
* re-evaluate (eliminate) the current Office of Police Oversight, which is almost a year behind in its annual report for public. Nothing meaningful has happened in this $90K annual part-time gig since Bieter changed the purpose of this office and hired a friend to fill it.

By: Eamonn Harter

Eamonn Harter — Fri, 06 Dec 2019 20:53:17 +0000

Bieter announces his new job with the Boise Metro Chamber and part-time lobbying gig for [insert name here] Corporation in 5,4,3,2…

By: Forced Air

Forced Air — Fri, 06 Dec 2019 19:57:46 +0000

I’m sure she has a progressive list.

Copied from Commiefornia/NYC:

-electric only cars in Boise city
-bicycle-centric traffic plans
-less green lawns, more brown ones
-gun control (aka self-defense control)
-Behind the Meter electrical plans (see Australia)
-no more single family home permits
-stack and pack residential housing
-density boosting
-adoption of alt-gender sensitive pronoun ordinances
-sanctuary protection for non citizens
-encourage more cultural shift to politically correct social-justice agendas (aka white people suck – see AOC and The Squad)
-More permissive street crime policy (like Cali Prop 47 etc)
-allow non-citizens to vote in city elections
-freedom of speech control (yeah, that’s a thing now)

All of this stuff was considered crazy and totally unobtainable about 10 years ago. Now all of it is in effect somewhere in the USA. All of it built on fake scares and bogus information….big lies told by expert propaganda teams.

By: Western guy

Western guy — Fri, 06 Dec 2019 05:48:11 +0000

Anybody notice the Boise City website has been updated recently…. hmmm. Just before the election.

Oh, I know, when asked The (soon to be former) Team Dave Mouthpiece (Frenchmen Journee), will say that project had been the works for months. Just like the podcast project.

Clean house, Ms. McLean.