This is a discussion of Assembly Bill 1378 in April of 2001 that was exclusive to Hesperia and would of increased the amount of property tax returned to Hesperia from 1.77% to 10%. It would have increased the amount of tax dollars returned by $2 million dollars over 4 years for local road or storm drainage programs. From my perspective, it was the right thing to do at that time. But asking the County to be fair has never worked and that is why the other cities had to sue them. The Highland-Yucaipa Case lawsuit rectified the property tax inequity for other cities but in a classic "inside job" by the Hesperia City Council , Hesperia decided not to join in and as a result is still getting ripped off by the County today.

This is the second page of the recommendation by Postmus for AB1378.

This is where the County says No to Hesperia. And this is where the City Council should have figured out that they need to do "what ever it takes" to fix this problem for the people of Hesperia. But politics get in the way of doing the right thing for the citizens of Hesperia. Bill Postmus is the County Supervisor who spends county money that comes out of Hesperia. Hesperia is a cash cow for the county since 1988. Tad Honeycutt- Jim Lindley- Ed Pack are all in the High Desert Young Republicans group who work for Postmus and the San Bernardino Republican Party. Check out their contributions from this election cycle if you want to see who they are working for. The priorities for Honeycutt- Lindley- Pack are

1. Bill Postmus and the High Desert Young Republicans, Their "Political" careers and futures are controlled by Postmus and the local Republican party.

2. The developers who are building in Hesperia and who contribute to their campaigns and in turn to Postmus via his Political Action Committee's like the High Desert Young Republicans or to Republican candidates like Anthony Adams.

3. The business interests who benefit from their controlling the Hesperia City Council. Real estate brokers and developers who get money from the Hesperia Redevelopment Agency and/or the Hesperia Economic Development program.

4. The County of San Bernardino where City Councilman Jim Lindley works and where First District County Supervisor Bill Postmus spends our tax dollars instead of "doing the right thing" and helping Hesperia deal with our problems.

In a great quote Postmus states," This money does not belong to the county, It belongs to the taxpayers of the City of Hesperia, who incorporated their city in order to improve public services and their quailty of life."

Third District Supervisor Dennis Hansburger stated, " Simply saying 'no' falls short of what our responsibility is, I believe that their is some merit to their representation that their allocation is inappropriate."

Postmus said that when the city incorporated in 1988, it inherited over 473 miles of neglected and deteriorating roads, yet the county gave the City one of the lowest shares of property taxes received by any of the county's cities.

The average amount received by cities in san Bernardino County is 13.9%. Hesperia receives 1.77% back and that's OK with the Hesperia City Council because they haven't done anything to remedy this "Inappropriate Tax allocation".

This was back in 2001 and both the City of Hesperia and the County have ignored the ' Inappropriate allocation' since then. With every new house built in Hesperia the County keeps the new property tax collected on them while the citizens of Hesperia do without the basic services that the tax money should provide.