Public not stupid enough to believe rhetoric

I read, with interest, the article by Charles Hand on the proposed tax on utilities that we will be asked to vote on in November. It makes me wonder who is advising this City Council on fiscal, safety, city beautification matters, etc.

My utility bills for the month on July totaled $367.95. That included SCE, Verizon, Time Warner, EMWD, gas, and Sprint. Five percent of that equates to $18.40. Who is going to collect these monies? Will the cost of the collection be passed along to the consumer? How long will the tax be in effect?

Once again, the scare tactics came out. Chief Dana says no more gang unit, no oversight of sex registrants and parolees, 30 percent increase in response time of officers, loss of 18 more officers. Our fire chief paints a similar picture: 11 more positions lost, response time goes from four to six minutes to 10 to 12 minutes, possible loss of two more fire houses. I could go on, but we all know what's going on here; it boils down to ineffective utilization of personnel and resources. I am not just talking about the Police Department and Fire Department. It's across the board.

I hope the officials in power do not think that we, the voting public, are stupid enough to believe all this rhetoric that comes from council whenever they want us to clean up a mess they could have fixed in the past themselves.

I, for one, hope that when the people of Hemet enter the voting booth in three months, they remember this and also the city manager debacle, the 40 percent raises given to certain members of the city supervisory corps, the layoffs of workers, and just how well certain members of the council, who we have placed special trust and confidence in, have done their duty in representing us and “fighting” for our well being.

DANIEL C. RICCI