Taxpayer Groups Issue Warning to Voters About Lack of Accountability for Millions of Dollars of Bond Funds.Northern and Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, Taxpayers Demand Accountability for Bond Funds at State Capitol Press Conference SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association helped sponsor Proposition 13, the property tax-cutting initiative in California in 1978 which slashed property taxes by fifty-seven percent and initiated a national tax revolt. It was founded by California republican Howard Jarvis. , the state's leading taxpayer watchdog group, along with the Santa Barbara Santa Barbara (săn'tə bär`brə, –bərə), city (1990 pop. 85,571), seat of Santa Barbara co., S Calif., on the Pacific Ocean; inc. 1850. County Taxpayers' Association and the Sacramento County Tax League, issued a warning today to California voters from the steps of the State Capitol that there is little accountability for the millions of dollars in General Obligation Bonds. "On Tuesday, California voters must decide whether they want to incur billions of dollars of taxpayer debt through numerous statewide propositions. We are greatly concerned that the recipients of these General Obligation Bond Funds are not being held fully accountable for where the money goes and how it is spent," said Jon Coupal, President of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association. "History has shown us that the State of California needs to do a better job of protecting these bond funds from misuse. The taxpayers of California are obligated ob·li·gate tr.v. ob·li·gat·ed, ob·li·gat·ing, ob·li·gates 1. To bind, compel, or constrain by a social, legal, or moral tie. See Synonyms at force. 2. To cause to be grateful or indebted; oblige. to pay off these bond funds and we demand better accountability." The Santa Barbara County Taxpayers' Association presented a series of illustrated charts that depict how one state agency, the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy The Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy is an agency of the state of California in the United States founded in 1979 and dedicated to the acquisition of land in the Santa Susana and Santa Monica Mountains and the Simi Hills, north and west of Los Angeles, for preservation as open (SMMC SMMC Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps SMMC Scottish Motorsport Marshals Club (Edinburgh, Scotland) SMMC Scottish Midweek Mountaineering Club (UK) SMMC System Maintenance Monitoring Console ), has created an elaborate network of intertwined Joint Power Authorities (JPA's) to funnel bond funds to sister agencies that SMMC essentially controls, in violation of bond funding regulations. "It is clear that there is little oversight on how these bond funds are being accounted for by certain agencies," said Joe Armendariz, Executive Director of the Santa Barbara County Taxpayers' Association. "The best example of this lack of oversight is the fact that the State Office of Finance has audited one state agency, the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, for the last three straight years, and yet questions remain unresolved on why state regulators allow this agency to continue to play loose and fast with millions of taxpayer dollars." The SMMC is a powerful state agency that owns and controls thousands of acres of land in Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. and Ventura counties and is the defendant in a lawsuit filed on October 3 in Ventura County Superior by taxpayers and taxpayers groups for alleged misuse of bond funds. The plaintiffs claim that SMMC's transfer of hundreds of thousands of dollars of bond funds to its sister agency, the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority (MRCA MRCA Most Recent Common Ancestor MRCA Midwest Roofing Contractors Association MRCA Multi-Role Combat Aircraft MRCA Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority (California) MRCA Malaysian Retailer-Chains Association ) violated laws concerning distribution of bond funds. The complaint states that among other items, SMMC spent bond funds to pay its lawyers to defend a lawsuit filed by local residents in 2000 to stop SMMC's illegal use of its property. "As a California taxpayer, I want much better accountability for millions of taxpayers' dollars that we all have to repay through state bond funds," said Jere Robings, a Ventura County resident and the lead plaintiff in the lawsuit against SMMC. "We cannot let the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, or any other agency, violate the law and our lawsuit demonstrates that we will go to court to get the taxpayers' money back." The Office of Finance agreed that SMMC's use of Prop 50 bond funds "is not a fiscally prudent use of General Obligation bond proceeds" and referred the request to recover taxpayers' funds to the State Attorney General's office. The Attorney General's office, which represents and acts as SMMC's attorney, declined to act on the demand, stating in its response letter that SMMC had not done anything improper with the bond funds. Under California law California Law consists of 29 codes, covering various subject areas, the State Constitution and Statutes. See also
"The plaintiffs want MRCA to return part of the $20 million of funds that SMMC awarded to MRCA under Prop. 50. The money was supposed to be used only for the protection of the Santa Monica Bay Santa Monica Bay is an arm of the Pacific Ocean in southern California, United States. Its boundaries are slightly ambiguous, but it is generally considered to be the part of the Pacific within an imaginary line drawn between Point Dume and Ventura County coastal watersheds," said Allison Burns by telephone, a partner with the law firm Stradling Yocca Carlson & Rauth in Newport Beach, who represents the plaintiffs in the lawsuit against SMMC. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: Photos of press conference - documents and letters related to the Ventura County Superior Court lawsuit - and charts presented by the Santa Barbara Taxpayers' Association concerning JPA's can be viewed at: www.fileshed.com Username: taxpayerlawsuit Password: 123taxpayerlawsuit Contacts: Jon Coupal, President - HJTA HJTA Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association HJTA Houndslake Junior Tennis Academy can be reached at: 916-444-9950 Joe Armendariz, Executive Director - SBCTA at: 805-684-0678 Ken Payne, President - SCTL SCTL Small-Components Test Loop SCTL Sarum Commercial Training Ltd (UK) SCTL South Central Tablelands (southern portion of the American Mid-West) SCTL Single Conductor Transmission Line at: 916-921-5991 Jere Robings - Ventura County taxpayer at: 805-523-8573 Allison Burns, plaintiffs' attorney at: 949-725-4187 |
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