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Troubling financial future awaits the Ceres City Council but are more taxes necessary?
Opinion

Ceres’ future budget picture is concerning – very concerning.

The city projects that revenues will remain relatively flat during the current Fiscal Year while expenses are rising like everything in life. Employee pension and insurance costs are up and the city has to ensure that salaries remain competitive.

Next year will be no seeking budget gap relief from the General Fund reserves. The council has for several consecutive years dipped into its savings account (reserves) and won’t be able to raid that fund next year like they have.

Let me give you a little historical perspective on how things were just a short time ago.

During the 2021-22 Fiscal Year, the Ceres City Council used $1.1 million in one-time ARPA funds and also $618,943 of reserves to fill a $1.7 million hole in the 2022-23 budget.

Now there are no ARPA funds and the city is digging into reserves by a whopping $2 million to cover the shortfall. City deficits have been growing.

Remember how just a few short years ago the city believed that cannabis developer agreements with their exorbitant fees would be the great salvation? The situation has vastly changed and not only are those revenues disappointing to the city but some cannabis businesses are late making payments and the city is now trying to figure out a way to collect!

Past councils have acted more decisively when faced with serious deficits. This current very inexperienced council – led by a mayor who thinks he’s ready to go to Congress – has let staff do all the work.

In 2009, the city was faced with serious budget crisis but the council was able to prevent police and fire personnel layoffs with significant cuts elsewhere. They eliminated the position of director of Parks, Recreation and Facilities (a department head position) so Doug Lemcke packed his bags, saving the city $112,000. The council also eliminated jobs filled by Human Resources Manager Keith Howes, Administrative Services Director Sarah Ragsdale and Executive Secretary Kathy Holloway, who also served as deputy city clerk. Even City Manager Brad Kilger took a pay cut.

In 2010, Anthony Cannella’s last year as mayor, the Ceres City Council passed a budget using a half million dollars of reserves to balance the budget. But even after dipping into reserves, Cannella said the city was left with a 31 percent reserve which he called “fantastic” and “a good buffer zone.” The council at that time committed to maintaining a minimum of a 25 percent reserve in place.

A 31 percent reserve!

Somewhere along the line – I don’t recall when – another council lowered the minimum level in the General Fund reserves to 18 percent. Now the city is looking at taking $2 million from its “rainy day” fund, to leave a 16.3 percent reserve, which drops it below the 18 percent minimum established by prior councils. The city is expected to end the year on June 30, 2026 with a reserve of just $4.8 million.

Now there is talk of seeing if residents would approve a tax increase measure. Good luck with that.

How much of a tax burden can Ceres residents handle given they just supported another round of property tax increases to fund Ceres Unified School District campus improvements? How much taxation is too much? And if voters say no, will that mean Ceres’ 14 parks turn yellow and residents have to take care of them on their own?

Scary financial times are coming for the city of Ceres!


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Having been connected to the Ceres community for nearly 38 years, I am stunned at how little the mayor and other elected officials know about some of their longtime residents.

Last week Mayor Lopez had no clue who Coni Goudeau was when she came forward to speak, after he had difficulty deciphering her handwriting on the yellow card which citizens are supposed to fill out before they speak.

Coni is a 72-year resident of Ceres. Don and Coni have been longstanding citizens who’ve been involved in their community and the new crop of leaders doesn’t have a clue who they are. Don helped organize the first Ceres Street Faire with Paul Caruso, Allen Graham and others. He also worked behind the scenes to help establish the Student Farm behind Hidahl Elementary.

Mrs. Goudeau was very “ticked” at the condition of Ochoa Park in Eastgate. She noted that trees and their stakes were leaning, weeds were growing in the flowerbeds and grass was either browning or flooded. This, of course, after the city spent millions getting the park completed last fall.

When she asked for a response it was crickets from the mayor, the leader of the city. Not even an acknowledgement other than the mayor’s pat reply of “thank you very much.”

Goudeau did speak at length to Councilwoman Cerina Otero before the meeting who got busy looking into the matter. That’s leadership.


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Ceres resident Randy Cerny certainly gave the controlling majority bloc on the Ceres City Council a piece of his mind at last week’s meeting.

The controlling majority, of course, being Mayor Javier Lopez, Vice Mayor Daniel Martinez and Councilwoman Rosalinda Vierra.

After congratulating Trenton Johnson on becoming the new chief of police, Cerny noted that Ceres Police Department is in “dire need of officers for patrol and investigations.” He also called for a bolstering of Code Enforcement efforts, saying Ceres is “dirty and unkempt.” Cerny cited signs taped to telephone poles, fences, walls and attached to metal supports stuck in the street medians and made mention of “unlicensed and not-paying-taxes street vendors are on most corners, peddling through neighborhoods and barbecuing on dirt lots after dark.” Cerny unloaded about folks “selling uninspected food out of their garages” and noting that it’s “not a surprise that restaurants that are inspected and paying taxes are closing.” He mentioned dead and “weed-infested  yards” and wondered why Ceres hasn’t expanded the two-days-per-week watering schedule to three days like Modesto and other cities since the drought  ended two years ago. Oakdale is now four days a week.

Cerny publicly thanked Councilmembers Cerina Otero and James Casey for attempting to have the majority three give up their taxpayer-funded medical insurance – a move opposed by Lopez, Martinez and Vierra. Cerny said Otero and Casey “are serving our city out of a love for our city, not for personal gain, not for ego fulfillment.”


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Cerny also brought forth an issue that I did not realize was occurring. He asked if the city had an ordinance on private rentals, or Airbnb’s, and specifically if those owners had to pay the Transient and Occupancy Tax (TOT) charged by motels.

“The additional cars, commercial vehicles and even 18-wheelers parked in front of Airbnb’s in Eastgate create parking issues for the neighborhood.”

When I checked the Airbnb.com website, I could only identify two homes within Eastgate that were signed up. One a small guest suite on Silver Oak Court and the other was a room “for female professionals only” on Macadamia Lane.


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When I was a kid I was taken to the barber on the main drag in Oakdale. I was probably 14 or 15 and somehow the conversation turned to what I wanted to be when I grew up. I think my mother said I wanted to be a politician. He told me, “Oh no you don’t want to be a politician; you want to be a statesman. There is a difference.”

I never forgot that sage statement. He explained that statesmen were noble and worked for the people, not their selves – and we see a lot of that today, don’t we?

That barber shop moment came to me when I watched video of the political theater in how Assemblyman Carl DeMaio was treated on the floor of the California State Assembly last week. DeMaio, a San Diego Republican, was giving an impassioned speech about opposing a resolution promoting Pride Month. He claimed that Democrats had inserted poison pill amendments that endorse policies that not even LGBT community members and 75 percent of Californians don’t support. They include allowing males into female sports.

DeMaio specifically was at odds with the section: “The aforementioned anti-LGBTQ+ bills disproportionately target TGI people and include efforts to prohibit access to lifesaving gender-affirming health care, prevent TGI youth from playing school sports alongside their friends, erase TGI identities from vital records and state driver’s licenses, ban books that include TGI people and history, prohibit TGI people from using restrooms and facilities in accordance with their gender identity, and criminalize TGI people who bravely embrace their authentic selves amid rising hostility.”

TGI, by the way, stands for “transgender, gender diverse and intersex.”

DeMaio is very conservative and, while gay, considers his identity to be “an American first and foremost.” He said many gay people like his self oppose being lumped into the same category of transgender. DeMaio also does not believe in dividing Californians on the basis of bedroom activities.

Democrat Assemblyman and Democratic Assembly Speaker Pro Tempore Josh Lowenthal of Long Beach, bolstered by the Democrat majority bullies in the room, interrupted freshman DeMaio three times in his speech to announce members’ birthdays. The first interruption began, “Sorry, I have a very important announcement today” and then went into a trivial chorus of happy birthday accolades for Assemblyman Juan Carrillo. The second interruption came minutes later when Lowenthal pulled the same stunt to recognize Damon Connolly’s birthday that occurred the week before. He then gave DeMaio a look that could kill as he allowed him to continue – until the third interruption to announce the forthcoming birthday of Mike Gipson’s birthday.

DeMaio stated, “This is not about affirming the LGBT community – it’s about using them as a political pawn to divide us. When you had an opportunity to unite us you chose division.” Lowenthal stopped him and said he was “out of order.”

It was a deliberate attempt to antagonize and silence conservative voice. Lowenthal’s conduct was arrogant and reprehensible, emboldened by his chuckling Democrat cohorts.

Watch the video for yourself on YouTube by searching for “CA Democrats Bully and Boycott on LGBT Pride!”


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One of my big pet peeves is the young male driver who uses Highway 99 as the Altamont Speedway. On top of speed, they weave in and out of traffic like it’s a downhill slalom course, putting everybody’s life in jeopardy. I’ve nearly been clipped from behind by these idiots traveling through the south of Ceres.

So I’m pretty stoked that the CHP has those new specially marked cars to catch these dangerous speed demons. The CHP uploaded a video of one such apprehension in the Fresno in which a lawless guy in a black sports car was passing trucks at a high rate of speed in the slow lane – another peeve of mine.

But then there’s always the naysayers who claim it’s only the CHP’s way of collecting revenue, which is a pretty stupid claim.

Michael Allendorfer posted this comment on the CHP Facebook page: “If a third of the accidents involve high speed that means two-thirds of the accidents don’t. This implies that the special enforcement is addressing the wrong problem.” Someone quickly pointed out the lunacy of his statement since 33 percent of crashes do involve speed. Of course there are other crash factors like driver distractions and inattentiveness, tailgating, unsafe lane changes and intoxication but those are addressed by the CHP as well.

Just stop driving like an idiot if you think the CHP is just all about the money. The rest of us will thank you for driving sanely like we do since we value our lives, the lives of others, our vehicles and living within the law. Driving at breakneck speeds is not something most people do because they have a modicum of intelligence. Only the ones who claim the CHP officers are “road pirates” are the ones who enjoy speeding and/or got a ticket for doing the same. To them I say grow up. Life isn’t all about you and your desires. Others on the road want to get to their destination in one piece.


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The environmental whack jobs are out in force since state lawmakers are coming to their senses and want to weaken CEQA, the law which has been used to bludgeon development. The governor wants to use AB 609 to do it.

CEQA was the tool used by opponents of Walmart to delay the Walmart Supercenter coming to Ceres by 12 to 14 years. It’s often abused to stymie housing developments and you know how seriously short we are on housing. Estimates say California needs to build 2.5 million to 4 million new housing units to fill present needs, let alone future needs. As I often to say, if people continue to have babies, we need to continue building houses. Plus, Newsom and crowd have ushered in millions of illegal immigrants.

But as we often see, the leftists come out of the woodworks to fight a positive change. Groups that came out Friday kicking and screaming were the California Environmental Justice Alliance (CEJA), Center for Biological Diversity, Leadership Counsel for Justice & Accountability and the Planning and Conservation League. They claim that “Gutting CEQA — the law that has protected California’s air, water, and communities for decades — would give developers a free pass to silence community voices, weaken environmental protections, and put communities at risk.” They also state “CEQA is one of the only tools available to disadvantaged communities to fight against polluting industries.”

Attorneys love CEQA because they make money suing. But it seems to me that “disadvantaged” communities are those who don’t have good-paying jobs and can’t afford rents and mortgages. So who is actually advocating for keeping the disadvantaged in their sorrowful state? The environmentalists, of course. If they had their way, there wouldn’t be much built in the way of homes, shopping centers or industries.


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California needs a part-time state Legislature like in Texas so the damage they are able to inflict is limited.

Think about it. These guys go to Sacramento and twiddle their thumbs wondering how they can justify their existence so they create all kinds of unnecessary new laws that don’t improve our lives but make them more restrictive and more expensive. Democrats like Scott Wiener think of ways to force their perverted ideologies on the rest of us. 

They attack things that work, like charter schools and continue to double-down on messing up the public schools. Two-thirds of students in California fail math proficiencies and a majority of students fail in reading and writing deficiencies. It’s just a matter of time until state leaders try what’s being done in San Francisco to mask the failures of public education and do away with merit based grading. They feel that letter grades and standardized grading are too stressful on students but in reality “educrats” know those grades shine a spotlight on the failure of California’s public school system.

Without an okay of the San Francisco Board of Education, Superintendent of Schools Maria Su plans to unveil a new Grading for Equity plan that will go into effect this fall at 14 high schools and affect over 10,000 students. The school district is already negotiating with an outside consultant to train teachers in August in a system that awards a passing C grade to as low as a score of 41 on a 100-point exam.

According to the Voice of San Francisco: “Grading for Equity eliminates homework or weekly tests from being counted in a student’s final semester grade. All that matters is how the student scores on a final examination, which can be taken multiple times. Students can be late turning in an assignment or showing up to class or not showing up at all without it affecting their academic grade. Currently, a student needs a 90 for an A and at least 61 for a D. Under the San Leandro Unified School District’s grading for equity system touted by the San Francisco Unified School District and its consultant, a student with a score as low as 80 can attain an A and as low as 21 can pass with a D.”

Iron sharpens iron. But lowering the bar does nothing but make kids lazier, dumber and less prepared for the outside world that demands more skills, not less.

Once this gets rolling there, how much longer do you think it will take for a Scott Wiener to impose it on all schools in California?


This column is the opinion of Jeff Benziger, and does not necessarily represent the opinion of The Ceres Courier or 209 Multimedia Corporation.  How do you feel about this? Let Jeff know at jeffb@cerescourier.com