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Willits
Endorsement: Holly Madrigal for Supervisor
In Mendocino County, California's Third District this November we have a face off for County Supervisor between incumbent John Pinches and Willits' City Council member Holly Madrigal. Both candidates have their merits. Perhaps John Pinches is just unlucky to have been associated with county politics for such a long time. Perhaps Holly Madrigal would have made the same serious errors John made when county budgets were constructed earlier in this decade. Nevertheless, I thank John for his good services, and while acknowledging his front-runner status, endorse Holly Madrigal.
Whoever is elected will face a situation of trying to deal with past misgovernment at the local, California state, and national level. Too much was promised to too many during the housing boom of 2000-2007. We are clearly headed out of a recession, but there are two reasons county services won't return to 2005 levels for at least several years. With tax receipts above a sustainable level, immediate county expenditures went well above sustainable levels during the middle of the decade. A lot of that went to salary increases for county employees, many of whom take home over $100,000 per years.
At the same time, long-term pension and benefit promises were made to county employees. These were give-aways based on the idea that tax receipts would continue to rise and that any money invested by the county to pay future pensions would earn a high rate of return.
Perhaps those promises to county employees constitute a promise that cannot be legally broken, but they can be compensated for by changing to a defined-contribution pension and benefit system. The County budgeting process should go like this: all necessary services should be provided to the citizens. If there is any money left over, it can go to a defined contribution system of of future benefits for employees.
The only real way out of this mess, other than a crippling austerity that might send the county into a further downward spiral as businesses and citizens exit, is to grow our local economy.
Holly Madrigal has already shown herself to be a leader in the local economic movement. She knows there are limitations in Mendocino County, notably a finite water resource, that means we need to get more productivity out of the same finite resources. This will not be done by government; it will be done by business people, including the numerous self-employed workers of this county. What the county can do is help sort through what is economically appropriate for our locality, making it easier to start and grow sustainable businesses.
This process will take some time. Fortunately we are now in an up cycle nationally and globally. How long it will last is anyone's guess. We need bright minds that can quickly sort through a rapidly changing economic environment. Holly appears to be one of those people. Her election would go a long way to restoring people's confidence in the future of this county.
Learn more at the candidate's web sites: Holly Madrigal for Supervisor and John Pinches for Supervisor
Map of Mendocino County Supervisor districts
William P. Meyers
