CAMARILLO : Council to Hire Lobbyists for City
Worried about further cuts in state funding, the Camarillo City Council has decided to spend $36,000 to hire lobbyists to bend the ears of legislators on the city’s behalf.
In a split decision over which lobbying firm to hire, the council voted 3 to 2 this week to hire the team of Joe A. and Anthony D. Gonsalves to represent the city’s interests in Sacramento this year.
Mayor Charlotte Craven and council members David Smith and Stanley J. Daily voted in favor of the Gonsalves brothers, saying they specialize in lobbying for cities such as Camarillo that receive a relatively small share of property tax revenues.
The Gonsalves firm lobbies for 26 cities, including Simi Valley and Thousand Oaks, that had either no property tax or very low property tax levies in effect at the time of the Proposition 13 tax revolt barring cities from raising or instituting new property taxes.
Council members Ken Gose and Michael Morgan said they preferred another lobbying firm.
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