SO … WHAT IS IT REALLY FOR?

 I thought I might take a breather this week while Mssrs. Wentworth, Thompson and Escobar made their tax pitches (on pages 4 & 6 respectively), but … there’s always a fly in the ointment. 

The fly in this case was a short note from Mono County Supervisor Lynda Salcido. I’ll include the relevant excerpt here:

“A thought on Measure K, the County TOT measure. Actually, it would bring in about 3 or 4 million for use in the housing programs, although as pointed out, not specifically dedicated to housing as the vote required is really tough to get. The track record of the BOS, however, has indicated a real dedication to housing needs. The County doesn’t have a budget structure anything like the Town, in fact, last week we were told that the additional costs for the new jail were going to be $6 million to even be able to go out to bid for the construction. This new jail was mandated by the State when the new law requiring jail updates came out years ago and the amount we were given was before Covid and rising building costs. A real smack to the County in being able to pay for this and any housing ventures. Agreed, a TOT increase is not my ideal idea to get housing funds, but it’s one of the few tools the County has at its disposal.”

I read the above as a fairly clear signal that the County has bills to pay and the easiest way to pay them is to raise taxes.

And while Salcido is careful to say the tax hike would go towards housing, it’s pretty clear where that money is actually gonna go. 

To housing, sure. For criminals. 

But at least she can claim a “state mandate” for the inevitable bait-and-switch. 

As opposed to the Town of Mammoth. In the Town’s case (see opposite page), there’s a shiny new office building (among other elective wants) to pay for. 

It is somewhat ironic that Rusty helped drive us into the ditch regarding the airport lawsuit (which we still owe $19 million in principal on). In the wake of that debacle, he urged the Town to grow itself out of the mess. So for better or worse, we threw a whole bunch of money at marketing. And continued to throw A LOT of money at marketing long after it became obvious that we needed to shift gears. And now that we’re obsessed with housing, I would argue once again that there needs to be some deftness in leadership, and some pivot. 

The housing we’ve built is the low-hanging fruit which comes with federal and state handouts and all the strings attached. There is a place and a market for it. I’m sure the Mountain is thrilled. 

But it’s so odd to think that we have housing which requires annual income verification to ensure that none of the residents become more successful. Instead of incentivizing people to work harder and make more, we’re instead incentivizing them to jog in place. 25-30 hours a week. Don’t make too much! Don’t take the promotion! Because then you don’t qualify and you’re out on your ass. 

What a strange, backwards notion. 

You know what incentivized me those many years ago when The Sheet was in its nascent stage? I lived in a series of roommate situations which were in turn fun and trying and exhausting and at a certain point, I just had to liberate myself. Which meant making more money and busting my ass and reaching for the unattainable.

Similarly, it’s hard to imagine VanLifers living in the vans forever. 

*Okay, some snark. Eventually their Boomer parents have to die, right? 

There was a good chance at that moment I was gonna fail and leave. That happens. I mean, I’d failed at everything else to that point. That was the norm. But Mammoth was my Last Chance saloon. And as Dylan says, when you ain’t got nothin’, you got nothin’ to lose. 

I got a good lotto number and qualified for the first affordable housing development at Meridian Court. 

The way it worked then was down payment assistance. 

They priced the condo at a whopping $359,600. Probably $600/foot (in 2006!). Funny money. 

And gave me $159,600 in down payment assistance via some federal program. 

And then I came up with 5% of the remaining $200,000 and took out a loan at 7.4% from Countrywide, so my payment was something like $1,300/month. I recall $1,307 somehow. 

The unit was deed-restricted. When you sold (back to Mammoth Lakes Housing), the price was set based on the increase in CPI, and the down-payment assistance was rolled into the next qualified buyer on the housing list. 

Of course, only two of us sold at Meridian Court before the Great Recession occurred, and … no one had contemplated what would happen when the CPI went negative and the Town’s budget blew up and they couldn’t afford to buy back the units anymore. 

And if they didn’t buy back the units, the deed restrictions were removed.

Which didn’t really matter. Those units were so underwater that many of my former neighbors, who didn’t want to live there forever, got tired of waiting for a market rebound and walked away. 

The law of unintended consequences.

So it’s hard not to wonder what the law of unintended consequences has in store in the near future.

Will The Sawyer turn over? Or will there be lifers? Will it represent a transitional phase to something better or a dead-end? 

The idea of building higher AMI (120-150%) units on Joaquin for $750,000 apiece and selling them with deed restrictions at $500,000 seems like even greater folly than Meridian Court. 

You shouldn’t have to, in essence, write $250,000 checks to people to get them to want to live here. 

What I’m trying to say is, the town’s strategy of grab for every possible dollar to throw wildly at the nearest wall is no strategy at all. And this idea that others (tourists) will pay for it all without consequence is absurd. Higher taxes = a dangerous boomerang. Just ask the guy who lost a hand in Mad Max.

Speaking of state mandates, I attended the Indian Creek/Westridge Community Services District meeting on Wednesday. 

Members of the District had to decide whether or not to approve a whopping 51% rate increase to help pay for AB 552 mandates, specifically, that every one of the 298 connections in the district requires a meter by 2032. 

The meter installation is estimated to cost $1.2 million, or $4,000 per resident. 

The Indian Creek CSD has not had a rate increase since 2018. 

Terry Tye, Indian Creek’s system manager, says the state is broke and there are no grants available. 

His theory is that the statge is trying to force small community service districts into consolidation with larger entities. 

But that comes with a price. They’d assume ownership of everything you had – your wells, your water. 

“If you like the taste of chlorine in your water, let’s join the city,” groused Louis Elia. 

Most members of Indian Creek’s CSD apparently don’t. The vote against the rate increase (and AB 552 compliance) was a loud ~73%. 

Meter compliance isn’t required by AB 552 until 2032. Tye had suggested getting the project done now because he anticipates it’ll cost a lot more later. 

Some residents had such disdain for the state mandate that I imagine they’ll die by 2032 just