Are you going to vote for new council members in Milpitas?

That is a personal choice, but here are some things you should know about the two council members that are up for reelection. The Mayor Esteves and council member Debby Giordano are up for reelection.

The Mayor Jose Esteves and council member Debby Giordano have voted to increased  you utility taxes by the following numbers.

1. Sewer charges increased by 7% Milpitas sewer rates are the highest in Santa Clara county.
2. Water flat rate increased (water meter fee) by 17%. Who knows how they calculate this fee? This is the second highest fee in Santa Clara county. Mayor Esteves or City manager Tom Williams will not disclose how this fee is calculated. Not disclosing how a fee is calculated is a violation of state law article XIII - D section 6 (1)  which states  "agency shall provide written notice by mail of the proposed fee, the basis upon which the amount of the proposed fee or charge was calculated." There was basis of how any of the increased fees were calculated.
3. The water rates are the second highest in Santa Clara county. For 0 - 10 hundred cubic feet of water (HCF) the fee increased by 14% from $1.77 to $2.02. For 11 -20 HCF the fee has increased by 68.0% from $1.77 to $2.76. For 21 - 30 HCF the fee increased by 8% from $3.72 to $4.02. A hundred cubic feet of water equals 748 gallons of water.
4. Milpitas water meter fee is the second highest in Santa Clara county. Milpitas residence pay $13.15 most other cities pay from $9.00 to $12.00. Only San Jose water Co. charges more at $16.93 for some homes in Cupertino, Los Gatos and Saratoga.

Your city council members are part time employees of the city and they spend about 3 to 4 hours on the city council twice a month which is 20 meeting a year ( there off one month ) and they sit on one or two other advisory commissions. That's about 170 hours a year at most and they get a health benefits and a retirement package. Why are the residents of Milpitas paying for health and retirement benefits for part time employees is beyond my understanding, except that they are greedy people and they can vote for their own benefits. Most have full time jobs that pay for their benefits.

What can we say about council member Debby Giordano?

At the Oct 2, 2012 city council meeting there was video showing Debby Giordano taking a mailbox off the post of her x husband residents. I believe that a federal offence. This is hard to believe, see for yourself. This is the city own website.

http://vp.telvue.com/player?height=300&id=T02061&noplaylistskin=1&video=131586&width=400

You need to get to about 32 minutes into the city council meeting before you see the video of Debby taking the mail box. There is a horizontal bar at the bottom of the video that you can set the time to view. Click on the mouse at about 3 inches to the left. This video will show you the character of some of your own city council members.

Debby received $10,000 in money for her education expense. That money should be for full time employees not for part time employees, I have no idea what the tax payers of Milpitas gets out of her  education expenses but I guess she thinks that she worth it. Tom Williams the city manager thought that it was a good idea too and I guess that why Debby voted to give him a 6% increase in salary. Tom Williams is now is making $212,000 a year. She also voted to give away $1.5 million dollars to a private company called SunPower that makes solar panels. The agreement was that they hire 80 Milpitas residents. These jobs were assembly jobs at the lowest pay grade. Who knows if they met this agreement or if the city can get this money back. The Mayor and all other council members voted for this give away of our tax money to a private company. The senior advisory commission asked the city council for opening the senior center on the weekends. Debby would not even bring this up for a vote. The tax payers paid $11 million dollars for the place and seniors who have to work during the week can not even use the place. Who knows how much the construction company gave to the city council members for construction on the new senior center.

You can vote for who you want to, but you should know that these council members are council members for their own benefits while there taxing you to death and breaking state and federal laws. Please vote for new city council members, the city of Milpitas needs better council members that are not in it for their own benefits and want to serve the public and not themselves.

 Look at votenow other posts to see if you are being ripped off on your sewage charges.