I’m not in the habit of sharing or discussing my political opinions and, in fact, try to remain mostly apolitical in my views.

I don’t know how a large portion of the population in Fortuna, or in our County, that lives paycheck to paycheck, or this is on a fixed income, can afford to live, given the inflation that continues to affect food prices and other of life’s necessities.

Our City Council recently enacted a 50 percent increase on our sewer and water fees and has advised of a further 50 percent rate hike.

Given the state of our economy and the financial struggles that many people are currently facing, I am pretty fed up.

This comes at a time when my own home and auto insurance rates have been hiked by nearly 100 percent to fill the losses experienced by the insurance industry in this state, and to ensure comfortable retirements for insurance industry officials.

Additionally, my health insurance company just informed me that their rates will increase by 20 percent in January.

Oh, and I haven’t even mentioned the recent PG&E rate hikes and gasoline tax increases.

The cost of living continues to increase and Fortuna’s ballot Measure P seeks to increase it further if it passes this November.

Measure P is asking Fortuna citizens to approve an extension of Measure E taxes (approved in 2016), and in addition an increase of .075 percent. That increase — along with the county’s current tax proposal, Measure O, of an additional 1 percent tax – would, if both are approved — cost citizens over 10 percent in taxes on all taxable “retail” purchases.

Measure E is supposed to sundown (expire) after eight years; this measure proposes to extend and increase this “special” tax through March 2033.

City staff and the recent former city manager made recommendations to our City Council to raise taxes to fill budget shortfalls by not allowing Measure E to sundown. That is usually the way taxes work— they seldom go down, but often a way is found to raise them

Now the interim city manager, police chief and at least one city council member are campaigning to fill a projected shortfall of more than half a million dollar in public work funds – funding that they should have known, or did know, that they would need. Additionally, they are looking to create a third park along the Riverwalk on property purchased recently, along with numerous other projects that are in their vision of what our City should have.

According to open-source information, not long ago the city of Fortuna received $2.9 million in COVID-19 funding (euphemistically named the American Rescue Plan Act funds), of which $2 million apparently went to build a new police station. I am not sure where the other $0.9 million went.

I recall a recent ex-mayor saying, not long ago in a City Council meeting, that when her children ask for something and the money isn’t there that she tells them to make do. That is probably what most reasonable people do.

In my opinion these initiatives are being championed by some people who do not and have not lived in our community, but who will benefit from these additional taxes.

I am not ready to vote for an extension of this tax, nor do I support an increase without much more transparency on how these funds are being spent, and will be spent. Vague promises just don’t cut it for me.

The current Measure E taxes were promised to fund public safety ,which most citizens translated to mean police services. However, that is not the vision that our politicians had in mind. I guess just about anything can become a matter of public safety if you label it as such.

Also, please understand that none of those funds will go to our local Fire Protection District. Some will certainly go to the police department, but where will the rest of the funds go?

It is my opinion that many people just glance over their voter information packets and vote mostly on emotion, or on what a friend or relative has told them is best.

I urge you to please take the time to ask questions and inform yourself, think about the consequences of what you are voting for and make the most informed decision that you can make.

As for me, I will vote NO on both Fortuna’s ballot Measure P and the County’s proposed Measure O tax increases.

Enoch Ibarra
Fortuna