This morning, News12 mentioned that the Democrats have proposed a "massive tax increase" against Long Beach homeowners.

Way to go Democrats! You'll have this place looking like another Democrat-run wasteland, Roosevelt, in no time.

Renters should also bear in mind that the biggest portion of their rent goes to pay taxes. So even rabid liberals who vilify property ownership will be hosed by this administration.

"This morning, News12 mentioned that the Democrats have proposed a "massive tax increase" against Long Beach homeowners." Laocoon would you kindly link me to that? I'm most interested in hearing about this. Thx.

classic shoot the messenger - face it, given the financial situation the city has been put in, seems inevitable, no?

What did we spend the 7.4 on?

At the City Council meeting this evening those now in power indicted the previous administration et al to the point where citizens in the audience were asking for FBI and any other criminal investigation that's possible. I believe the intent was to get the populace to agree to give "them" the authority to make major financial decisions they otherwise don't have.... fear tactics which could backfire. It certainly intended to ruin reputations.

Way to go Democrats! You'll have this place looking like another Democrat-run wasteland, Roosevelt, in no time...... I don't think you can honestly blame the current City Council given the mess they inherited. We all knew we had a rainy day fund. We all knew and lived with the 0% tax years while they rest of American townships and municipalities crumbled like a house of cards. Did anyone honestly think that Long Beach was immune from the fiscal crisis everyone lese was going through? The bloated contracts awarded to local unions and the overly generous retirement packages given away.......did you ever question them? How could you honestly think that within a city's infrastructure, things don't break and then subsequently need fixing. The fixing costs money and lots of it. Playing the shell game with the City's laundry list of broken components was both irresponsible and blatantly unprofessional. Perhaps a sitting City Council is both unqualified and basically inept at running a City of this size. The blame can be spread all around and to all parties, as no one is going to escape this mess.

Don't let former Council men and women fool you into thinking it was never their fault. Hiding needed infrastructure improvements under the rug so that they never infect a parties touted "Look at us provide you with a 0% Tax year", was only adding to today's tragic news. A lack of transparency has gotten here today and we must now face the music. Read with horror other same sized municipalities in recent Wall Street Journal articles. Massive pension payments to fund unrealistic contracts awarded by local inept City management, it'll make you cringe. For many towns, the good times have come to an end and the practice of awarding overly generous contracts are over. For Long Beach, the mess has only started.

This is nothing new for Long Beach, as anyone who remembers the city's financial mess of the early and mid-1970's will recall.

The city could become fiscally sound if they would increase the property taxes on all the people who rent out illegal apartments in their homes. That's where they should be placing all their manpower.

Only in Long Beach can a $107,000 fund balance (surplus) be considered a "fiscal crisis!"

Read the above carefully. The independent auditor reports that at the end of the budget year, there was a $107,000 remaining as a fund balance, otherwise known as a surplus, but the current administration calls it a "crisis" and the media completely eats it up! Yes, the rainy day funds from previous was spent; it was spent to offset tax increases on the already overtaxed homeowners in LB. The Republican Coalition used the "rainy day" fund for the rainy day called the "Great Recession." If the current economic collapse is not a rainy day one has to ask, how excatly does this inept administartion define a rainy day?

Here is the bottom line that is undisputed. At the end of the day, when all the books were closed and the budhet lines were checked and double checked by auditors, there was a $107,000 balance, that is a surplus. In a perfect world, at the end of the day, expenses should balance out with revenues- you should have a $0 balance- that is a perfectly balanced budget. LB had a $107,000 surplus! This shell game the administration is playinng is extremely dangerous, it hurts the repuatation of the city and it scares taxpayers. And the media's feeding into the frenzy is irresponsible.

The facts are the facts. Ask yourself, was there a fund balance at the end of the day or not? Yes there was! I'll take that in these tough economic times.

Lets get one thing straight, does the city have fiscal problems, absolutely- it exists at every level of government. My point is that this administration is blowing the situation completely out of proportion, exaggerating the situation, hurting our real estate values and our ability to borrow money. Its a shell game. It is the clubhouse demcorats attempt to lay the groundwork for a huge tax increase so they can hire more of their family and friends and implement their big government agenda at the local level.

Go after the Illegal Renters Now. Either Legalize them or Fine them then Jail them.

TWO-FACE BANCHICK!!

Last night a woman went to the city council meeting. She said her name was Ruth Bernstein, but someone said that wasn't her her name-her real name is Ruth Banchick. She obviously a supporter of the new democrat council. She was calling on an FBI investigation of the previous council for mismanaging the city. Its funny though, where is she today? Where has she been since Fagan was arrested for stealing unemployment benefits? Why isn't she calling in the FBI to investigate this criminal? She is curiously very quiet! Funny, I also heard her son Aaron was one of the first people hired by the city manager as well! (What happened to friend and family she fought again- I guess her family is exempt). She is indicative of the two faced hypocrisy that this new administration stands for, and she and the rest of the clubhouse should be screaming bloody murder against how Fagan ripped off our taxpayer money. The Banchicks are an example of all that is wrong in America today!

Found this article: 93% of metro cities in 2009 were negatively effected by the recession- but the new city council would have you believe LB was immune! ( Huh?)We made it until now without raising taxes (that's because prior adminstrations put major projects on hold and band-aided the rest) and we still ended the last budget year with a surplus! (That meager surplus you talk about is like the parents that gave their kids $100 to buy a loaf of bread but the kid comes back with $1.07. I would be pretty pissed off that little Johny didn't produce the rest of the "change money"). These people are just using scare tactics (I'm not so sure that scare is a good word when it has been verified by an outside auditor, the current path would have been fiscal suicide.) to raise your taxes so they can hire their friends; just like in 2006! Watch out! (Well, lets hope that they won't do that and we as a collective people can get this city back on it's feet. By the way, do you know what the new Police contract is going to cost the city?

Well at least one thing's for sure, Margaret always seems to have Jimmy's back...go figure.

What steps would you take to fix this situation Margaret?

As predicted, the "independent" minded city manager Jack Shnirman hired long time Democrat Clubhouse member, committeeman and operative to work in the city. He has been hired in the Community Development office as a "community liaison." The Community Development office has historically be run with one person only. This hire adds another list to the family and friends broken promise of this "new" administration and it violates a "hiring freeze" that was announced on Tuesday (and enacted by the city council ) with the fiscal emergency resolution. Again, how can there be a "fiscal crisis" and yet the "new" democrats keep hiring there friends??