Calaveras County Taxpayers Association update on activities

GENERAL PLAN
We attended the Board of Supervisors meeting of 12/13/11 and spoke in support of making the new General Plan more freedom friendly and less hurtful to property rights and our economy. County Council advised us that we need to submit our comments to the Planning Department if we want our input recognized in the planning process. We did so with our response to an agenda overview and general comments prepared by Bob Mulvany, Director, which is posted on our website. We also attended the BOS workshops on the water and Economic Development Elements. We concurred with the Planning Directors recommendation to remove "The County Shall..." from many of the clauses of both elements. Also, to not include the Economic Element in the General Plan which was approved by the BOS.

TOT TAX
There is some discussion to increase the tax from 6% to 10%. We formed a TOT committee to recommend hold, repeal or change the tax. Volunteers are Bill, Bob and Al. We should have a  recommendation by our next Scheduled Board meeting, which is the first Tuesday of the month 10-2 PM at First American Title Company in Angels Camp.
PUBLIC LUNCHEONS
October luncheon had an overflow attendance. Our main speaker was Congressman Tom McClintock. We also heard from Rico Oller who is running for the Assembly.  Kyran organized the awards for the Constitution Day Essay Contest winners. Very successful project. We have just confirmed Kristin Olsen to be our main speaker at our January 18th fund raising Luncheon.  We need raffle prizes!
NEW PLANNING DIRECTOR
Our new County Planning Director attended our Board meeting in November and gave us an update on activities and plans for the future. We were favorably impressed.
CALPERS
We filed a complaint with the Grand Jury, requesting they investigate the Central Sierra Planning Council's discovery of 1.6 million dollar unfunded CalPERS liability. They politely responded indicating they did not have jurisdiction in that matter. I wrote a paper suggesting a CalPERS reform which would be based on constitutional principles. We posted it on our website. If other taxpayer groups agree, we may have a chance.
RIM FUNDS
We spoke to the Board of Supervisors opposing a requested increase in Rim Funds. We lost three to two.
STATE TAX ISSUES
Our friend Jon Coupal of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association wrote an interesting article which is linked HERE.
MEMBERSHIP GROWTH
Are you a member yet? If so, thank you. If not, please consider joining. Our dues are only $12 per year and you can join via our website