SACRAMENTO REGION, CA (MPG) - The Sacramento Taxpayers Association held its Fourth Annual GOLDEN FLEECE AWARDS, bestowed upon public officials, governmental agencies and organizations for their "wasteful, ridiculous, or ironic use of taxpayers' money," at the STA Annual Dinner April 18, 2018.

“The Sacramento Taxpayer Association is a non-partisan, non-profit, member-supported organization, working to hold government accountable, make it reliable, responsive and efficient – at all levels,” said STA President Katy Grimes. “What could be more non-partisan than taxes?”
 
“The late U.S. Senator William Proxmire, a Democrat, used to famously issue monthly Golden Fleece awards to public officials he believed were squandering public money,” Grimes said. “It is in his memory that we do the same. I only wish we also could do it monthly,” Grimes added.

The Winner of the 2018 Golden Fleece Award:

.      Ballot Initiative to Impose Strict Rent Control in the City of Sacramento – Democratic Socialists of Sacramento, Sacramento Housing Alliance, Tenants Together and Other Travelers.  A coalition of hard Left groups are seeking to qualify for the November general election ballot a measure that would amend the City of Sacramento’s charter to impose the most draconian rent control of any in the State of California.  Coupled with a statewide initiative effort to repeal the Costa-Hawkins law which limits rent control to older units, the proposed rent control initiative in Sacramento, if approved by voters, is certain to snuff out new construction of rental properties, reduce the rental housing stock and worsen our existing housing crisis.

1st Runner up.:    Darrell Steinberg’s “Project Prosper – Mayor Steinberg and the City of Sacramento.  The Mayor held a series of three public meetings earlier this year, dubbed “Project Prosper,” to ostensibly obtain public input on how Sacramento could “invest” more in Sacramento neighborhoods.  In fact, the effort was a thinly veiled PR effort to try to persuade Sacramento voters to not just permanently extend the expiring one-half percent Measure U “temporary” sales tax approved by voters six year ago, but to double the Measure U tax to a full one percent.

3-Way Tie for 2nd runner up: 

“Winter Triage Center”- City of Sacramento.  With minimal notice to the impacted residents of Woodlake and North Sacramento, the City, with zero prior experience in running a homeless shelter, opened a “Winter Triage Center” on Railroad Dr.  It has no bathrooms, no showers, no heat, no kitchen, no trash facilities, and no facilities for pets or personal belongings.  It’s operating at a cost of $425,000 per month, over $2,000/mo. per resident.  The City promised the North Sacramento community that the shelter would be open for just 3 months. A few months later, it decided to keep it open indefinitely - at a huge increase in monthly rent.

“Housing First” Policies - Federal, State and Local Government.  Under misguided “Housing First” policies, no facilities that house the homeless can insist that its residents commit to sobriety, treatment or make any other effort to improve their own lives.  All government-funded homeless facilities are now “wet,” allowing drunk and drugged homeless to obtain free housing without precondition.  Privately run homeless programs which do require a commitment to change - such as the St. John’s Center of Real Change that cares for women and children - have been defunded by federal and Sacramento County governments, putting their programs in peril.

Twin Rivers Public Housing Project - Sacramento Housing & Redevelopment Agency (SHRA).  SHRA is tearing down an existing public housing project on Richards Blvd. and building a replacement high density project with double the number of units.  It’s intended to be a “mixed income” project, with 50% homeless/public/subsidized housing and 50% market-rate housing.  The apartment units will cost an astronomical $636,000 per apartment.

Honorable Mention:  City of Sacramento for its Failure to Address Public Defecation in  Sacramento –   Enough said.