Yes Gube a little off centered but you have grown on most of us...I cannot believe someone deleted my comment just not right.... 

  mitigation- migration .........it's a honest mistake lol........... I got a big laugh out of it yesterday when oohchild brung it to me attention.....

 I forgot that GH is in a different jurisdiction. But I sure would like to see some of that revenue going toward street maintenance. The potholes near my house are ridiculous, and what's with those huge trenches at some of the intersections? Those should be levelled out some; I drag my car on them every time, and I'm barely moving.

gube, guess you just thought you were writing about illegal immigration again. ;)

 Hey who's deleting comments?.....................

 What!....a little off centered........ha ha ha true

 BTW, gube, it is mitigation, not migration.

lol

 Charlee, you may be correct about mitigation fees being too high in general.  But to develop the corner of Tehachapi Blvd and Tucker where Que Pasa is located, the city had to build a sewer force main, i.e., a pumping station to move the wastewater to the wastewater treatment plant, so developing that corner took a substantial outlay by the city.  I don't know how much (who does in the crazy quilt of civic accounting?) but I wouldn't be surprised if it were $1M or more.

As for East Golden Hills, that is out of the city limits and none of the mitigation fees paid to the city is going to help that problem.  Gotta go see GHCSD for that!

 They are extreme. It is just like banks now. They charge you "fees" for NSFs nearing forty bucks a pop, even though it costs the bank a few cents to return a check. But, they wait until the end of the day to post checks so they can decide which ones to post first. For example, your rent check for $1200 comes in on the same day as four or five other much smaller checks. They will pay the largest one first so they can bounce the others and collect as many "fees" as possible. They also wait until the end of business to post deposits, once again enabling them to take more money from the customer's account. Bank executives actually get huge annual bonuses for collecting the most fees from customers!

The mitigation fees are the same thing. It may cost the city a few hundred in actual impact, but they have to jack up the price through the roof to increase revenue. And, instead of charging per building, they charge per business. They get more cash that way. There is a definite community impact when new building is done, but to the tune of $90-100,000 per small business? That is way too excessive. And the fact that they neglected to tell businesses that the city was raising the fees by over 100% is ridiculous. The exorbitant payouts are making it impossible to open a business, unless of course, you have tons of liquid assets to begin with. And before you say, "well, the city needs that money to improve the roads and water systems", the roads in Tehachapi are still in deplorable shape, and the water situation especially in east Golden Hills is critical. Where are all these profits from fees going? I know they are not going toward improvements.

BTW, gube, it is mitigation, not migration.

Fees are paid to provide needed services to the building - without these services the buildings are basically worthless.  This value accures to the buiding - hence to the building owner -  not just to the first business that moves into it.

So the fees, just like construction costs, have to be paid by the developer, who must then calculate what rental income he needs to cover his costs and adjust his rental rates or profit margin according to the dictates of the market.

Now, how do you suppose this existing cock-a-mamie scheme of taking the entire fee from the first businesses entering the center happened?  From adopting the common practices of other towns?  Or more like this....

Developer Harold Hill : Gosh, Dave - these impact fees are so complicated!  One price for a resturant, another for a nail salon....hmmm...I just don't know.....Whattasay we do this instead....when I get my spaces leased out, I'll just have the businesses pay you the impact fee directly!  That way, it'll cut out the middle man, and you'll know exactly what business impact you're dealing with!

River City Rube Dave James : "Cut out the middle man?  That's a good thing ... I guess .... Sure, Mr. Hill - lets do it that way!

Developer Harold Hill : Great, Dave!  That'll really help!  I'll have my lawyer draw that up for us this afternoon!  Pleasure doing business with you!!

 Yes the developers should pay the basis fees up front. I think about $11,000.  But at the time of building the development He my not know who is moving in.  Once  he has a sign lease he should  collected the proper fees from the new business, and he paid the city  Great from now on.  What do we now?  The business Put a deposit and sign a lease for many years goes  to the city hall for their permit and are told the additional fee of $60.000.  and that what happen.  Yes tell the new business they can not open or as the city council work did work with the new business.  I feel they did the right thing at the time (Remember both business did not move into the development and the development loss the rent he would have he loss in the long run)

 Dreamkiller, I will say that I did take what you said in the wrong light. I will say that I felt you meant it as an attack because of the switch in the first part of you post to your comments to me.

I also agree that there should be a business license for home businesses just like any other business. I don't have a problem at all for this due to the fact many people could run businesses that can be rather questionable to the families in the area. Yes I do pay for the sales tax according to the license application and have no problem doing so. I do understand that many towns charge roughly the same for the license, but I believe in most cases it is much higher than it should be. The reason I mentioned the process and the raise in the fee was to point out the changes that were made over the period.

To be honest about the local government boards, they almost all need to be changed out. School, city, planning, park and rec, and many that slip my mind. I agree that swapping one bad for another is problematic and having been on the TVRPD board a few years back, one good person usually can't change much.

 Jer72 you totally misunderstood my post. I am congratulating you for paying a tax when you could have never said anything to anyone about your in home business. Yes you should complain about this fee, but before you do find out what others are paying in other cities like Tehachapi. That way you can have some ammunition to use. Such as " I surveyed these 10 cities that are the same size as Tehachapi and this is what they charge." It would be hard for the city to fight such a fact as that. Just make sure you use "like" cities. Same size, same make up. Find out if the city employees union have determined caparisoned cities for negotiating their pay. If they did use the same cities for your caparisoned survey on fees. I do feel you should have to have a business license but the city should only be charging you what it cost them to administer the license. No more no less!!! I think you feel the same way right? Do you pay sales tax to the city? If you do, they should be more then happy to keep you in the city. As for going to the planning meeting to get approval for your in home business, I think that is a good thing. You would not want someone to open a petting zoo in the home next to you. Sorry petting zoo was kind of an over the top example but you know what I am saying.

As for the mitigation fees- the city could not just leave these small business in a lurch. I think it is good small town government to try to help. Did the city make a mistake not getting the fees from the developers up front? YES. Making the new business pay all fees right now is not a good solution. Changing the policy on fees and helping these new stores stay here was the right solution.

As for the planning board -I think they need to go as well, but only if we can find better people then them. I don't want to replace a bad thing with another bad thing. We did that and look where we are now. Same place different story.

 dreamkiller, Are you saying that I can complain about the fee? Do I pay more or less than those other people? Maybe, maybe not. But I live here and run my business not there. Did I say that the other people that do the same type of business as I do pay less? No, but I believe they would also say that same thing. Heck I didn't even say how much I paid. I will tell you that three years ago the fee was about a quart of what I paid last year. I will also say that three years ago they didn't require you to go to the planning meeting to get approval. They do now.

The funny thing is that I don't even know why you attacked my post when I didn't agree with anyone. I just gave out my opinion of the reasons the problem exists.

Stan,

I agreed with your vote on the mitigation fee. I think the city is not the place to finance business loans or act as a bank either.

ProgressoDassani,

I agree with you that we need to get Grimes, Smith, Hand, and Vernon out of there. I personly know and like Grimes and Phil and have know them for a while, but it is time for them to go. As for the planning board and David James goes, they all need to go in my opinion. Not just James but the entire board. They might mean well but I believe the time has came for change.

dreamkiller why don't you answer some of the questions that I put to you?  What are you affraid of?  You are the one that has been doing the name calling and making some very serious accusations.  Again, how do you substantiate what you have been saying?  And, for the record you are twisting words.  I have never called anyone names in closed session.  That much I can say.

What the City Council has been condoning for years is what got me voted into office.  And do I think that most everyone that works or worked at city hall has gotten by with many things in the past and so does the public.  This is why I pull items off the "Consent Agenda" and I ask questions which is more than your former council did.  The public wants to know, "Why wouldn't the City Council approve an investigative audit?"  Just because they have tons of audits, that doesn't suffice for an investigative audit.  Why do we have people claiming that the City has "missapplied" bond funds?  Why are we having water problems?  These are questions that beg to be answered but are swept under the carpet.

As for Henry Schaeffer, I am sure that whatever he needs to do to be a legal candidate he will do and I would condone nothing less.  Again, you are making many unfounded accusations and I think the readers out here can draw their own conclusions and they certainly won't be in your favor.  You keep twisting the issue back to my nefarious character but you are not answering the questions.

Go ahead and make your posts.  I won't delete them, but I find your arguments without merit to the topic.  Let's here some real answers from you and how about some solutions?  You say I compain but don't have a solution.  Madam, I assert you are wrong and need to pay a bit more attention.

The November that you got voted to office saw anyone with incumbent next to their name voted out. ( at all levels local to state)You were the only name on the ballot so you got the most votes. I am sure come this next November the voters will have learned from their mistake in voting you in. No ones wants to vote in a dark house, we want change but change in a good way. Your tactics have been scary to say the lest. You say you have supporters but where are they? They don't blog, they don't come to meetings, where are they? I find it hard to believe that anyone from the city knew that the developers where going to do this to their tenants and purposely kept it from the store owners. Do you really feel that everyone in city hall is out for themselves? Your way of thinking, that everyone but me is evil is horrible. Do you know how many people tell me everyday that they wished they didn't vote for you? It is sad that when people disagree with you, you resort to name calling! And for the record I have never been in a closed door city council meeting. Please keep blogging Stan that way us the voters of this City can learn the real you.

Stan-"While there may be more to come on that front, I have not written anything or stated in any public venue that Grimes is a drunk.  Where are you getting your information?  From some of the things you have stated here it sounds like you have been sitting in on the council’s closed session meetings. That is a very bad ethical violation."

So Stan did you say that Grimes is a drunk in closed door sessions? Is that what your trying to say?

Stan- As for Henry Schaeffer, Henry owns a home in Tehachapi and this man contributes a goodly sum to the tax base in Tehachapi and spends more time at his store than at his home.

Like I said I love Henry and I think he would be a great City Councilman, but having a camper in town and sleeping at your BVS home is not a city resident. So he can't legally run for office here in town. That would be illegal and unethical and you support this!