This neighborhood opinion was contributed by the Hollister Police Officers Affiliation. The opinions expressed don’t essentially characterize BenitoLink or different affiliated contributors. Lea este artículo en español aquí.
In 2016, the residents of Hollister voted decisively in favor of Measure W, a one-cent gross sales tax extension initially handed as Measure E in 2012. On the time, metropolis leaders made a transparent and convincing promise: that these funds—estimated at round $4.5 million yearly—would primarily assist public security and important metropolis providers. That was the deal. And voters held up their finish of the cut price.
Sadly, metropolis management has failed us as soon as once more.
Regardless of the projected income and the long-term assist from taxpayers, the Metropolis of Hollister now finds itself in a multi-million-dollar price range deficit. Our public security departments—those self same providers Measure W was meant to guard—are bearing the brunt of the monetary mismanagement. The Hollister Police Division alone has seen roughly a 30% price range reduce in beneath a 12 months. Officers have been provided solely short-term contracts. Medical advantages and incentives have been frozen or diminished. Layoffs and furloughs are being mentioned—not as a result of Measure W failed, however as a result of the town’s management has.
And whereas the town pleads poverty, discretionary spending continues to be uncontrolled. Initiatives like rest room renovations at Dunne Park and preparations for the biker rally go ahead as if the fiscal disaster doesn’t exist. On the identical time, audits are years behind, and metropolis departments are being requested to slash their budgets throughout the board. This isn’t solely poor planning—it’s a elementary betrayal of public belief.
Measure W included accountability provisions, corresponding to annual impartial audits and oversight by a residents’ committee. However what good are these checks if they’re ignored, delayed, or undermined? How can a metropolis with years of lacking audits declare to be performing in good religion?
The unhappy actuality is that we’re not coping with a income drawback—we’re coping with a mismanagement drawback. Primary monetary planning has gone out the window. Rudimentary math errors, lack of transparency, and a failure to stick to even probably the most fundamental accounting requirements have led us so far. What’s worse, these points didn’t come up in a single day. This has been a gradual erosion of fiscal duty, and now our residents, metropolis staff, and emergency responders are paying the value.
Hollister is a rising metropolis with a caring, engaged neighborhood. We authorized Measure W to put money into our collective security and future. We didn’t vote to fund unchecked discretionary spending or administrative blunders. We definitely didn’t join price range cuts that compromise our security and repair high quality for our residents whereas rest room renovations are prioritized and oversight goes ignored.
This case calls for motion—beginning with sincere management and full transparency. Town should launch all excellent audits instantly and account for each greenback of Measure W income and normal fund revenues. Oversight committees have to be empowered to ask arduous questions and get actual solutions. Discretionary tasks must be halted till core providers are stabilized and the town can reveal a clear and correct monetary image.
If metropolis leaders imagine new spending priorities are wanted, they need to current them to the general public truthfully—via open boards or perhaps a new poll measure. What they have to not do is proceed raiding funds promised to public security whereas our streets develop much less safe and morale in our public security departments plummets.
It is a name not only for accountability, however for a recommitment to the values that made Measure W a hit: transparency, belief, and prioritizing the well-being of our whole neighborhood. Hollister deserves higher—and we should demand higher.
Hollister Police Officers Affiliation
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