Save Newport Real News in Newport Beach
Newly elected Newport Beach councilwoman Diane Dixon wrote commentary for the Daily Pilot explaining that nobody actually knew what was inside the $282 million budget which increased taxes, increased expenses, and increased public employee unions– but defended that she passed it anyway, saying that council can fix it and amend it later on through the budget-amendment process, rather than fulfilling the seemingly-arduous task of voting on something that councilpeople fully understand to begin with– as if that wasn’t their one and only job.
She says– in her own words– “I agree with Peotter’s statement at the meeting that this budget has not been thoroughly vetted by the finance committee and the council, because it was presented to us under tight time constraints.”
Yet she still passed the budget.
To add insult to injury, the title of the article was “Budget process isn’t perfect, but council has a record of fiscal responsibility“. Dixon– who ran as a “reform candidate” promising fiscal responsibility– says she now trusts the status quo and is okay with passing a budget that nobody has read, which increases taxes, increases spending, and increases the public employee union size by a whopping 12 people (four police, and eight park employees).
A reminder that all three of the rest of the reform candidates (Peotter, Duffy, Muldoon) voted against the hasty $282 million budget– an average of over $3,300 per person in Newport. Dixon abandoned them and her campaign pledges to join the other three members of the old council in passing a ridiculous budget that nobody had even vetted. To my memory, there has never been a budget in Newport passed on a split vote, so this is setting somewhat of a historic event, to boot!
I guess in the eyes of Dixon, you just have to “pass the budget to know what’s in the budget”. However, I don’t think she has a lot of support in that philosophy.
