comm 240 essay
City Council Meeting
Ashley Torres
12/03/2014
990 words
There is so much going on in our lives on a daily basis that many of us are clueless to what is going on in our own cities.
Working two jobs and attending school full time has my schedule all over the place, so finding a meeting to go to was difficult.
I was unable to attend my city’s meeting, however I was able to make Desert Hot Springs meeting held on November 20, 2014 at 6 p.m.
The council members consist of Mayor Adam Sanchez, Mayor Pro Tem Russel Betts and council members, Joe McKee, Jan Pye, and Scott Matas.
Eric Johnson is a consultant with Revenue Cost Specialist; he discusses his company and matches costs with revenue.
Within twenty-five years he’s worked in over two hundred agencies and five different states.
It started with two city managers after the passage of proposition 4 and 13, in which they saw the need for cities to be able to match up the cost with their revenues.
Proposition 13 limits what can be done with taxes, compared to Proposition 4, which allows fees.
“You are not going to stay in business very long if you don’t know what revenues you are bringing in verses what cost you are bringing” said Johnson during his brief presentation.
In his introduction, Eric mentioned questions such as “What services are being provided to the public?” Who’s providing those services?” and “What does that cost?”
With that being said he went through and made adjustments to public fees and some have gone up as well as down.
Although, I am not too aware of what exactly was being discussed, these questions definitely made me think about how money is being spent.
I may not be familiar with certain topics, however I do pay taxes and I should make it a priority to be involved and know exactly where my money is being invested.
It’s up to the city council to decide how fees are paid, but it is our tax money that is being used so it is important to be aware of these decisions. Another topic that was
Ashley Torres
12/03/2014
990 words
There is so much going on in our lives on a daily basis that many of us are clueless to what is going on in our own cities.
Working two jobs and attending school full time has my schedule all over the place, so finding a meeting to go to was difficult.
I was unable to attend my city’s meeting, however I was able to make Desert Hot Springs meeting held on November 20, 2014 at 6 p.m.
The council members consist of Mayor Adam Sanchez, Mayor Pro Tem Russel Betts and council members, Joe McKee, Jan Pye, and Scott Matas.
Eric Johnson is a consultant with Revenue Cost Specialist; he discusses his company and matches costs with revenue.
Within twenty-five years he’s worked in over two hundred agencies and five different states.
It started with two city managers after the passage of proposition 4 and 13, in which they saw the need for cities to be able to match up the cost with their revenues.
Proposition 13 limits what can be done with taxes, compared to Proposition 4, which allows fees.
“You are not going to stay in business very long if you don’t know what revenues you are bringing in verses what cost you are bringing” said Johnson during his brief presentation.
In his introduction, Eric mentioned questions such as “What services are being provided to the public?” Who’s providing those services?” and “What does that cost?”
With that being said he went through and made adjustments to public fees and some have gone up as well as down.
Although, I am not too aware of what exactly was being discussed, these questions definitely made me think about how money is being spent.
I may not be familiar with certain topics, however I do pay taxes and I should make it a priority to be involved and know exactly where my money is being invested.
It’s up to the city council to decide how fees are paid, but it is our tax money that is being used so it is important to be aware of these decisions. Another topic that was