INCREASING TAXES IS NOT THE ANSWER

I am truly mystified and disappointed with our county Board of Supervisors as they consider supporting a county sales tax increase. The CAO of the county is endorsing this sales tax increase and indicating an advisory board would be impaneled. I assume this advisory board would be a mirror image of the one that oversees city of Bakersfield Measure N funds, a body with no real power headed by the CAO.

Has the Board of Supervisors considered the rising cost of fuel, water, food, other essentials and potential county litigation? We already have an increase in the city sales tax, and we suffered through the COVID epidemic, losing family and friends, and seeing damage to our economy. Clearly, our country is nearing a recession.

The supervisors claim a tax increase is necessary to improve public safety, but politicians commonly use this tactic to spur concern/fear among the voting public. Our public safety is obviously important, but we must take a closer look at why we have mass vacancies in the Sheriff’s Office and whether they were budget-driven. I am curious about whether the large signing bonus the county is offering has actually drawn many new deputies from other law enforcement agencies, or they were scared away by the Sheriff’s Office’s reputation.

Increasing taxes is not the answer. If a CEO in the private sector did not manage a budget and had a mass employee exodus from his company, the board of directors would start an official inquiry. Maybe the Department of Justice should add accountability and lack of morale to its list of areas to investigate in the Sheriff’s Office as well as and our county’s expenditures. It’s easy to spend the money of others. The only tax increase I would support is one that would help get rid of the career politicians in the county Board of Supervisors and among department heads and support term limits.

— J.R. Rodriguez, Bakersfield