GINNING THE NUMBERS

It was somewhere around 7 p.m., or three hours into what became a five hour Mammoth Town Council meeting, and a Town staffer texted me. 

Staffer: “Surprised you’re still here.” 

Lunch: “I’m in training. Rebuilding my endurance.”

With dear Ulla having decamped back to her native land (Utah), I decided to jump back in and cover Council – see what I’ve been missing. 

I was inspired to attend by poring over the union contracts in the agenda packet. And wrote what appears below on Tuesday night as a placeholder. Only to get a reality check on Wednesday evening which makes me question whether I suffer from premature senility. 

First, the placeholder. 

You see this more and more. 

Government agencies approving consequential agenda items by consent, without discussion. 

Agenda items which have significant implications, both financial and philosophical. 

Take Mammoth’s Town Council this week. On the consent agenda was approval of three, three-year union contracts. 

On the surface, the terms seemed reasonable, even favorable. A 6% salary increase in year one, with subsequent 3% increases in years two and three. 

But if you dig deeper, you see a provision which states: “Employees shall be eligible for an annual contingent payment based upon Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT) revenues received during the previous fiscal year, in order to allow them to share in the success of the Town. No individual payment shall exceed $4,000 … The revenue sharing payment shall be calculated based on the total year end Town’s share of TOT revenues above the original fiscal year TOT budget.”

Oh, so there’s a bonus you don’t have to list in your budget presentation because you won’t know if you have to pay it out ‘til the end of the year.

But the bar is set so low, there’s no way not to achieve the bonus. 

Let’s put this in context, TOT revenue for 2024-2025 was approximately $30 million. The Town is budgeting TOT revenue for 2026-2027 to come in at $23 million. Which the Town likes to do. Lowball the TOT revenue estimate so there’s a big overage at the end of the year for Town Council to play house with. 

If the Town does no better in 2026-2027 than it did in 2024-2025, there’s still a $7 million ($30m minus $23m) surplus. 8% of that = $560,000. More than enough to divide 122 ways (the number of FTE, or full-time employees, the Town is expected to have next year) and come out with $4,000/person. 

The budgeted cost for the Town’s 122 employees in 2026-2027 is $21.4 million. $12 million of that is in salary with the rest in benefits. 

The 2025-2026 budget was approximately $18.4 million. 

So labor costs are up more than 16% year-over-year. 

But let’s zero in on the salary component for starters.

$12 million for 122 employees is apporoximately $100,000 per average employee. 

If we promise a 6% bump in salary to this person, plus a slam-dunk achievable $4,000 bonus, that person is making $110,000 in 2026-2027. That’s a 10% raise. 

The Town is also grappling with a 24% increase in health insurance premium (totaling $813,497) and a 17.4% increase in PERS retirement contribution (totaling $578,225). 

Ergo, is this TOT bonus really necessary? 

Talk about the cherry atop the sundae. 

But what bothers me perhaps even more is this defining of the “success” of the Town. Which is defined entirely by money, the only metric anyone seems to care about. How does “sharing in the success” via TOT bonus payments influence Town employees? How does it affect planning decisions, for example? Or code enforcement decisions?  

Further, why shower the employees with a collective $500,000 bonus when they’re already realizing a 16% increase in wages and benefits?!?! Why not lower taxes or pay down debt? You are currently building a $34 million office building and a $19 million arts center. Or how about hiring a wildlife specialist for that matter? An animal control officer? 

Where have you gone Ray Nadwocki, a mountain town turns its lonely eyes to you, woo woo woo … 

It turns out they’ve had this TOT bonus program in place for perhaps a DECADE. How come I don’t remember this? Councilman Bill Sauser recalled that former Town Manager Dan Holler dreamed it up during a previous union negotiation. As an alternative carrot to a straight raise – because a bonus isn’t subject to PERS (retirement system) contributions, so it’s cheaper for the Town to put in an employee’s pocket, and if you have a bad year (Covid), you don’t pay it. 

But for the most part, you pay it, and this particular bonus, like most perks, has become baked in and institutionalized over time. 

So, what’s a 16% increase in labor costs when you can add another $500k into the equation and make it 19%? 

Onto the meeting itself. Public comment featured six residents from Ski Trails Mobile Home Park complaining about space rents and property management.

The residents said the average space rent is $1,600/month and increasing by 7% annually. Further, they say the park is deteriorating and were critical of Blizzard Property Mgmt. 

“And if you call Robert Calvert [owner of Blizzard], he will cuss you out and blow his top within twenty seconds.” 

Residents begged the Council for some sort of regulation or rent control. “No units have sold since August,” said one resident, citing this as evidence the place has become rundown and unattractive. 

The Sheet reached Mr. Calvert by phone on Thursday. He said he was sorry about the residents’ dissatisfaction, but then, not sorry. 

“If they don’t like the price, they’re welcome to go elsewhere … they could move to Kansas. Gas is $3.50 in Kansas. I’m just passing Randsburg. There’s a house for lease right here … as my mother always said, ‘We all make choices in life.’” 

He emphasized that Blizzard manages the property. It does not set the rent. 

Town Attorney Andy Morris said there are certain things the Town can/can’t do in relation to mobile home parks. 

It can pass a rent-control ordinance, but such an ordinance would be forward-looking, so the $1,600 space rent would be a baseline. 

It cannot pass a rent freeze – a landlord has the right to make a return on his investment. 

It cannot regulate the park or its maintenance. Interestingly, mobile home parks are regulated by the state. 

Would utilities be included?

The thematic story at Council was housing, both the rise of Housing Manager Marcus Sproll continuing to explore the idea of the Town as developer building its own “Missing Middle” project, and the fall of Eastern Sierra Community Housing, which is seemingly no longer trusted as a developer and currently operates as a front desk. 

In his presentation, Sproll outlined a proposed 130-unit, $72 million project, which would require $27 million of Town investment capital, and $45 million worth of borrowing. 

The project would serve those making between 80-120% of Area Median Income (AMI). 

Proposed rents would be $1,800 for a studio, $2,600 for a one-bedroom and $3,200 for a two-bedroom, with the unit mix being 25 studios, 80 one-BDR and 25 two-BDR. 

Council immediately dove into the weeds. 

“Would utilities be included?” asked Mayor Rice. 

“I’m not comfortable with these rents,” huffed Councilman Bill Sauser. 

Councilman John Wentworth pumped the brakes. “I’m predisposed to another round of discovery and analysis.” 

Council certainly agreed it wanted more of that. 

Sauser declared that the Town could easily raise $27 million over two years to throw at such a project. 

In fact, it would only need to raise $26 million if it stopped tossing TOT bonuses at its employees. 

As to Eastern Sierra Community Housing (ESCH), Council approved its $350,000 contract later in the evening. 

The contract includes $250,000 “for core housing navigation and homebuyer counseling services,” and $100,000 for “income verification and compliance monitoring services.” 

In essence, $350,000 for a whole lot of who knows what. 

I suppose it’s $350,000 meant to divert people from visiting the Town offices to ask where the hell they’re supposed to live. 

ESCH will no longer be governed by the Brown Act and will not have a Councilmember on its board. 

Board Chair Tom Hodges said the Town is protected in that there’s a provision in the contract which says it can terminate without cause with 60 days notice. 

Councilman Brent Truax asked that at the very least, ESCH make a quarterly update report to Council outlining its activities. 

Mayor Rice and Councilman Wentworth pushed back, opining that while ESCH is reinventing itself, Hodges and Co. shouldn’t be burdened by, you know, accountability. 

Creating a motion to require a quarterly update promised to take thirty more seconds, however, and as the clock approached 9, Bill Sauser was having none of that. 

The vote was 3-2 to approve the contract as is. 

MMMBopp

Okay, so here’s a good one. 

On Wednesday, June 10 I had a meeting scheduled with Rob Patterson at the Town offices. 

I didn’t want to take a parking spot at the mall (support local business) so I parked over at the library lot, which was 3/4 empty. 

There’s a spot under a tree – not an official spot, but I’m definitely not blocking anyone in, and people can get around me, and it’ll keep the car a little cooler for the dog for the thirty minutes I’m gone. 

When I come back, there’s a yellow parking ticket on the dash. 

But the ticket doesn’t say Town of Mammoth Lakes or Mono County. 

I text a photo to Police Chief Casabian. “Not ours.” 

I call Sheriff Braun to ask. “Nope. We wouldn’t be doing parking enforcement there.” 

So it’s a bogus ticket. But who wrote it? The initials on the ticket are JB.

A little sleuthing uncovers that JB is more than likely Joe Bopp, the director of Mono County Libraries. 

Library staff tells me Joe is fond of parking enforcement and writing tickets. 

I’m also told that the staff has almost entirely turned over since Bopp took the job. 

Hmm. Seems like there’s an allegory here. 

Remember the tale of Little Rabbit Foo Foo? 

Little Rabbit Foo Foo

Hopping through the forest 

Scooping up the field mice 

And Bopping them on the head!

So the Good Fairy comes down and admonishes Little Rabbit Foo Foo and gives him three chances to be good. And if he’s not good, she’ll turn him into a Goon!

The moral of the story is that you shouldn’t bully or pick on people, because bad behavior has consequences. 

The story wraps up with the pun, Hare Today, Goon Tomorrow. 

A few tidbits to share from recent stories in the Wall Street Journal. 

June 10: A story on Vail Resorts says Industry-wide visits to the Rockies plunged 24% year-over-year. This was the worst annual decline in four decades. 

Vail’s net revenue was down 7%.

While the stock is also down about 7% over the past year, it was up 11.5% on Thursday.

May 16-17: From a column titled “The Great California Medicaid Grift”

Since 2019, state Medicaid spending has more than doubled. It is now $220 billion. 

“California makes up about 12% of the US population but accounts for nearly half of new social assistance and healthcare establishments in the US over the past decade … between 2019-2024, the number of home health providers in California rose 66%, about twice as much as nationwide.” 

“Healthcare and social assistance account for all of the state’s net job growth since the start of the pandemic.” 

April 10: Front page story on surging Homeowner Association (HOA) fees around the country. The median monthly condo fee is up 29% from 2019. 

April 16: From a story about Affordable Care Act (ACA) enrollees. One in seven have stopped making payments after premium costs rose at the start of the year. 

Normally, the falloff rate is in the mid-single digits. 

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona lost 30% of members who initially registered. Last year, it was 2%. 

Lunch’s ACA premium increased more than 700% this year. 

From several news outlets, who referenced a report in the Journal of Geophysical Research. “Researchers report that the tectonic stress accumulating on the San Andreas and San Jacinto fault systems has reached its highest levels in the past 1,000 years and, in some segments, may already exceed those levels.” 

From Mammoth Lakes Town Council’s budget: Last year, Councilmembers earned $71,000 in salaries but also had the Town spend $228,000 on their health benefits. 

And from Hartley’s desk, some thoughts on Brendan Sorsby. 

Sorsby is a QB. Used to play for Indiana. Then transferred to Texas Tech.

He was busted at Indiana for making bets on games that involved his team. The NCAA subsequently took away his playing eligibility. 

Until a judge in Texas ruled against the NCAA’s right to do that. 

You guessed it, the Judge is from Lubbock, Texas – home of Texas Tech. 

With all the talk about integrity of the game and gambling, he bet on games he had inside information on and didn’t get banished? What the hell? If he were black he would be playing in the UFL or going to the Supplemental Draft. Who is sleazy in all of this:

1. Sorsby. You did it. You went to counseling then sued to get back to Texas Tech. Screw you. Walk away. Own your mistake. 

2. Texas Tech. Shame on you. You call yourself an institution of higher learning and probably offer a whole slew of ethics classes, yet you are whoring yourselves out for college football wins. 

3. The State of Texas. A judge did this so the university can win games. Damn judicial system. Justice sure is blind. 

4. Nick Saban. The former Alabama coach made millions and won titles when the SEC could run wild and illegally pay players. Saban now whines that players getting legal money is ruining the sport? Shut up. 

The whole story is sad.  

Then there’s Niners WR Brandon Aiyuk. Check that boy for CTE. Check to see if he has parents. What is wrong with this guy? 

Aiyuk got hurt in 2024. He was on the first year of a four-year, $120 million extension. Aiyuk, out for the year, subsequently ghosted the team. In response, they voided his contract guarantees for 2027. 

Aiyuk said last week the Niners are “running from the belt. They know it’s coming.” I guess I can relate to running from the belt as a black child. That belt was no joke. But the switch from the bush was worse. And running did you no good … you would get it worse later. But for a grown man, an NFL player to be saying stuff like that? 

He upped the ante this week: 

“You want to know why they really mad, though?” Aiyuk said. “They mad ‘cause they stupid. They dumb. They mad that they paid me $50 million in eight months and then voided my guarantees for 2027. And I’m about to be on a new team in 2027. They mad at themselves for real. They acting like they mad at me, but they stupid ass mad at themselves.”

Two other questions. Does he have a brain or an agent? How can you say the team was stupid for paying you? That means you MEANT to take the money and run. And at the same time you say you will be on another team this year. Why not just say ANOTHER STUPID TEAM WILL PAY ME NEXT YEAR. 

This boy is stuck on stupid.