Anaheim, Times Skewed on Disney

The Times suffers the same myopic perspective on the Disney expansion financing as our Anaheim City Council and city manager (Editorial, Oct. 13).

The important point obscured by the frequent chant, “Taxpayers don’t pay for these projects,” is that any collected taxes are general fund revenues, and supposed to be first prioritized for public benefit: police, fire, road repair, parks.

We in Anaheim have been enduring many general fund expense sacrifices for over 10 years while being told our city reserve funds were untouchable. Do most residents still remember the budget-balancing staff cuts and privatization furor, and the utility tax masquerading as an “access charge” that we pay in every bill, still there despite “recovery?”

The Anaheim Stadium deal left us with no revenue source for $9 million to $12 million in original stadium bonds. Demolition and construction during the Disney expansion will produce a decline in the transient occupancy tax, 6% of which supports the General Fund. If that revenue is not critical to the city, as council members and others claim in their ballot statement supporting Measure B, why has there been total silence from the city on its plans to recover from any of these shortages? The conclusion is that they have no plans, except for new fees, taxes, service cuts, or hiking the utility bill access charge.

The taxpayers’ only recourse in this situation is to veto Measure B at the polls Nov. 5 and force a renegotiated agreement that gives the residents more than crumbs. We otherwise will have 40 years to ponder the financial cement hardening around our feet.

JEFF KIRSCH

Anaheim