The Buzz: In Burney, it’s not just a public safety tax on the ballot – Redding Record Searchlight

North State voters’ willingness to pay for essential services like police and firefighters will be tested again March 3.

No more so than in eastern Shasta County, where Burney residents will vote on Measure A, the much-publicized countywide public safety tax, and Measure B, a Burney Fire Protection District special tax.

Measure B is projected to raise about $103,370 annually, which would go toward the maintenance and operation of facilities, vehicles and equipment.

“A lot of folks are a little tax averse, so it’s important for the Measure B information” to get out there, said William “Willie” Rodriguez, board president of the Burney Chamber of Commerce and district manager of the Burney Water District.

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Rodriguez said the chamber has not taken positions on Measure A or B, so he was speaking for himself. For the record, the Redding Chamber of Commerce endorses Measure A, which would raise the sales tax a penny. Both measures need a two-thirds’ majority to pass.

Speaking to Measure B, Rodriguez said there have been problems with emergency response equipment, and that’s a public safety risk.

“At some point, you have to realize it’s time to invest in some new infrastructure so you can keep doing what you are doing,” he said.

Then again, a Shasta Lake Fire Protection District tax failed to garner the required two-thirds majority in November 2018, months after the Carr Fire tore through Shasta County, killing eight people and destroying nearly 1,100 homes.

Meanwhile, a lot more people in Burney are talking about Measure A.

“I think it’s in more people’s faces. Certainly, there’s just a lot of community conversation, on social media and face to face about the homelessness, crime, transient traffic,” Rodriguez said. “I don’t think a person in this community hasn’t been affected in some way.”

Tammy Allison is president of the Intermountain Intervention Team. The group has about 150 members who she says work to improve the quality of life in the area. Allison believes her group supports Measure A. She didn’t know the group’s position on Measure B.

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Allison, whose husband, Donny, co-owns Burney Transportation, said she hopes if Measure A passes, Shasta County sheriff’s deputies will start patrolling the Burney area 24/7.

“I am for Measure A. I think most of us are because we got to do something different in the jail system. We gotta find another way,” Tammy Allison said.

“Deputies are doing the job. They just don’t have the manpower to do everything they need to do.”

Shasta County Sheriff Eric Magrini at a Measure A forum in Burney said the tax hike will help get more deputies patrolling the Intermountain Area, Allison said. But Allison also believes there’s a recruiting problem, that the county needs to pay deputies more, or they will continue to seek greener pastures at other agencies. 

Happy Valley resident Susan Pearce is running for the Shasta County Board of Supervisors District 2 seat because she believes rural residents need more help.

Pearce supports Measure A, but she sees some issues with it, including whether the money generated will be spent to beef up patrols in rural areas.

“It’s great that we are going to have more prosecutors and more public defenders, but if we don’t have the officers to work those areas, they are not going to have anything to prosecute,” Pearce said.

Twice last decade, Redding voters defeated sales tax measures to help raise money for public safety and other quality of life issues that plague this community.

Stay tuned.

The power of social media

Redding City Councilman Michael Dacquisto has made a habit of posting on Facebook to explain his votes.

He did it in October after he was the lone dissenter in a 4-1 vote to approve a holiday light show at Turtle Bay Exploration Park’s arboretum.

Most recently, Dacquisto went on Facebook after the council voted 3-2 to increase fees for wastewater, water and solid waste. Dacquisto and Mayor Adam McElvain voted to delay any increase for a year, with Dacquisto posting that existing cash and cash equivalents for the three services “should be more than enough money to get through the next few years without increasing rates.”

Dacquisto’s post triggered responses from councilors Erin Resner and Julie Winter, who joined Kristen Schreder to hike rates. That’s what city staff recommended, since the bulk of the reserves are already earmarked for planned repairs or a mandatory emergency fund, so waiting would make higher rate increases necessary for future improvements.

“I will acknowledge and be honest that most of the inquiries that came my direction were people who were asking because they had seen that post, that they were asking for clarity from me,” Resner told Record Searchlight reporter Michele Chandler.

Resner said it’s difficult at a meeting to briefly explain how the budget works, or what money can be taken and from where.

“This time I felt like it was important, because I was getting a handful of questions as to why the decision was made and what were the facts like surrounding it,” she said.

Resner appeared a bit taken aback by the pushback.

“We’ve been discussing this for months and it didn’t feel like something that was going to be any sort of hullabaloo, mainly because we’d already approved all of the infrastructure projects in the capital improvement plan,” she said.

For her part, Winter told reporter Chandler, “I felt like I was just making the best decision I could and I wanted to explain that. I got emails from people disagreeing with the utility fee increase and understandably so, nobody wants a rate increase. But I wanted to make sure accurate information was out there.”

You can bet that this won’t be the last vote in which social media will serve, in the words of late radio broadcaster Paul Harvey, as the rest of the story for Redding councilmembers.

HomeGoods announces opening date

With the Sprouts Farmers Market grand opening at the Mt. Shasta Mall less than two weeks away, HomeGoods, the other anchor in the mall’s new space, has announced its arrival.

HomeGoods will open March 15, about three weeks after Sprouts opens on Feb. 26.

If you’ve been to the mall, you’ve seen the HomeGoods sign is up. The store fronts Dana Drive, while Sprouts is on the Hilltop Drive side.

Both new stores occupy the former Sears building, which was repurposed and divided into six spaces. The mall has yet to announce other tenants in the building.

Chick-fil-A and Tea Bar & Fusion Café also are coming to the Mt. Shasta Mall. They will share the new building being constructed at Dana and Hilltop.

Tea Bar, which is based in Chico, will open in late spring or early summer.

Chick-fil-A hasn’t announced an opening date. Former Madayne Eatery & Espresso owners Ahab and Jessica Alhindi are the franchisee for the Redding Chick-fil-A.

Car wash coming to Cypress Avenue

The old Budget Auto Center building on East Cypress Avenue was recently demolished to make room for a car wash.

Roknipour Investment Group LLC of Valencia purchased the property for $800,000 in June 2018.

In December, the new owners submitted a building permit application and it is under review.

Budget Auto Center relocated to Park Marina Drive in 2016 and changed its name to Park Marina Motors.

Redding Kia then moved to the former Budget Auto Center site while its new dealership was built about a block east on Cypress.

The former used car dealership was razed in December.

David Benda covers business, development and anything else that comes up for the USA TODAY Network in Redding. He also writes the weekly “Buzz on the Street” column. He’s part of a team of dedicated reporters that investigate wrongdoing, cover breaking news and tell other stories about your community. Reach him on Twitter @DavidBenda_RS or by phone at 1-530-225-8219. To support and sustain this work, please subscribe today.

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