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OPINION: ENRICHING YOUR CITY OF CERRITOS

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Enrichment makes something more meaningful, substantial, or rewarding. Enrichment improves something.

The tax debate rages on here in Cerritos.

Some are all for the increase, others are against it and want the city to cut expenses.

Allow me to make an argument, and, just as in economics, ceteris parabis… with other conditions remaining the same.

Say you spend $1,500 a month, or $18,000 a year as a Cerritos resident in Cerritos.

Some will spend more, others will spend less.

I am assuming residents will not to leave the city to spend money on grocery items, hardware, beauty supplies, fast food, dining, etc., certainly not a bad assumption.

Cerritos is proposing a 1% sales tax increase. If you spend $18,000 in Cerritos your additional tax burden would be $180 per year, which works out to be $15 per month.

Once again I am assuming you will not leave the City… because why would you?

The tax works out to be $1 per $100 spent.

If you drove anywhere else to spend that $100, you would burn more than $1 in gas so why not stay in Cerritos?

If you spend $1,000 per month your additional tax burden would be $120 per year, or $10 per month.

Now I hear the residents who live on fixed income and I hear the residents that want the City to cut expenses.

Think about enrichment.

Even if officials do balance the budget, cutting the Sheriff’s Station, cutting employees, to erase the $6 million deficit, there is no additional revenue coming in, so the City remains the same position.

That is, a balanced budget but no money to spend on city services.

Critical infrastructure projects will be delayed or never materialize, trees take longer to get cut, landscapes go untrimmed for a few more weeks, roads don’t get fixed.

In short, the City will look less enjoyable and livable.

Cerritos has seen tremendous growth in property values and newly added big box businesses and restaurants.

The Plaza on 183rd is amazing compared to what it looked like a year ago.

No one wants to leave Cerritos to shop elsewhere…once again…why would you?

Now that the redevelopment funds are gone, through no fault of anyone at the City, the City needs help.

Specifically – the City that has been responsible for the tremendous growth in your property values – needs your help.

So instead of thinking of the increase as a tax, think of it as pay-it-forward donation, a donation that will enrich the City and make everyone want to live and shop in Cerritos now and in the future.

If passed, the enrichment tax will pump an additional $20 million, or more, into City coffers.

Critical infrastructure projects will get completed, trees will be trimmed, roads will get fixed, and most importantly, the Cerritos Sherriff’s Station remains intact.

Then the City can take a good hard look at the CCPA.

Now, instead of property values remaining flat, property values will begin to rise probably above the median in LA County.

All for $15 per month, on the high side, $10 per month on the low side; 50 cents per day and 30 cents per day respectively.

The math bears out why Cerritans should pass the enrichment tax.

The average home value in Cerritos is $667,000 based on past two months sales figures.

That is an increase of 2% over last year, or over $13,000 in appreciation, and almost $100,000 more than LA County values.

That is the City giving back to the residents.

Isn’t it worth $15/$10 per month to keep that appreciation rate of at least 2%? I would assert it is worth far more.

That is quite a shiny return on your $15 investment, or ROI as it is more formally known.

$15 per month guarantees an investment return of $13,000 per year…

It is like the La Palma resident said in Larry Caballero’s front page article this week, “My heart is with the City and the police department, and I would be willing to pay two cents or five cents more if it meant that we keep the quality of life we enjoy now.”

Enrichment makes something more meaningful, substantial, or rewarding. Enrichment improves something.

  • Sales Tax Increase says:

    Sad I am not in favor of the tax increase, it will be a burden to our business industry. But I do feel that the tax will pass the vote by the public in March 217, because this is a heavily endowed Union City and many are retirees. Residents have ripe 401k so any tax increases is Meaningless.

    This city has never been a proud sponsor of landscape maintenance, there has never been a time in 60 year history, that the city has been well maintained. This is a bi-product of love for STEM philosophy, and has stepped to the wayside fire art of gardening and horticultural/trees/arborists.

    This story does not talk about the negatives, such as aprox 15% of the city populous is below poverty lines, as they purchased their homes new for $18K-$25K and live on the lower levels of social security and no 401 K. Please print how many families receive meals on wheels, I have heard that aprox 60 poverty families receive meal on wheels daily in Cerritos, but dont know the facts.

    Government always feels that they have they rite to attack our pockets books, when they run out of money. Social Security receivers have not received any increases in pay over the past decade. National government can never live within their economic means.

    We just learned the tru numbers from the water data rate increase, over 1700 protested, city populous is 50,000, with 4500 homes, but we do not know how many residents are registered voters

    2017- will bring new numbers for sales taxes, but look at Socal Tax statistics, many taxes and propositions have failed.

  • Lisandro Torres says:

    Once a tax is set ,the percentage will always go up and never down. Our leaders need to learn to handle city finances conservatively and not overspend.handle city finances like the leaders handle their own money.

  • 70's Ray Watt Tract - Diamond Head Model says:

    The story……..

    It is not just about the tax increase, it is the out-of-control projects and programs, in which no sale tax increase will cure over time. 8/25,, CCC , agree with Mayor for the city of Cerritos, with your closing statements during the budget study session You mentioned that when you purchased here and so did many other people in the community including myself, we all purchased in the city of Cerritos because it was a model like community, it was the first city in Los Angeles County– master planned Community, beautifully landscaped, a balanced of concrete jungle -vs- greenscaping, beautifully laid out tracks of homes.

    Look at the master plan today, it has been severely breached and butchered? The model like master plan has been breached with strips of multi-family homes, mega mansion, strip malls Exedra. Our Landscaping is nothing but crude weeds, overgrown vegetation, dead plants, so forth………anything but a Horticultural palette from Utopia. We are asking the city to make cuts to the Disneyland performances , which we didn’t buy into, and also work with the city staff in order to reduce their wages and benefits packages. 10 % reduction in pay, would help balance the budget.

    1% Tax increase will not erase financial issues, only will slow the process.

    City Street trees are trespassing in to our bathrooms, laundry room and swimming pools. City is doing squat. The have littered our roofs w/ tree manures.

    Multiple times, CCC have asked the city manager to come back to the city council with a report on the lifelong benefit packages of the city council, and have not addressed during this budget crunch. CCC can’t look out to the residences to try to compensate for the amount of red ink by raising sales tax and eliminating the sheriff’s department. But you must seek is more alternative ways of balancing the budget such as reducing the payroll, reducing the Disneyland services, and look for New Management in order to go forward the next 60 years. CM/ACM are both 75 YO, it’s time that we start looking for Replacements, as they’re not going to be able to go forward in the next 60 years. Gaylord Napp had to clean ship, and he had a vision, and I’m sure it was not dirty City we live in today.

    None of this is new because of the Redevelopment agency, the residents of this city have been begging/ pleading to the city council and other candidates, please please please analyzes Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts & all the cities Landscaping in the city, because neither one are not want.

    What do you want the City residents to do, we have addressed this during many political campaigns in the past, 8 yrs been in red ink.

    People want to keep the quality of life today, but are ignorant on the quality of life we bought in to durings 70′-80’s, that can never be purchased for any dollar amount. ……..WE ALL LOVED THE OLD CERRITOS………

    xx Ray Watt Tract – Proud owner of Diamond Head Model, split level home.