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3/17/18 – After illegally syphoning $20M from the Banning Water Utility for a new police station, self-righteous City Council thugs Franklin and Welch , once again aided by notorious sellout George Moyer, have managed to form a council majority to approve a 15% Water Rate Increase.

In short, Franklin and Welch have stolen from us and are now spitting in our faces by making us pay for the theft they committed.

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BANNING UTILITY FREAK SHOW CONTINUES

Largely unnoticed by the public, on March 13 a narrow council majority voted 3:2 in favor of a 15% Water and Sewer rate hike.

According to this plan, rates will increase this July by 3%, with additional 3% increases every year until 2023. In addition, there will also be 3% annual increases for waste water rates.

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IN FAVOR: DEBBIE FRANKLIN, ART WELCH, GEORGE MOYER

OPPOSED : DANIELA ANDRADE, DON PETERSON

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OVER THE COURSE OF 20 YEARS, WELCH AND FRANKLIN COLLABORATED TO SCREW OVER BANNING RATEPAYERS

For those unfamiliar with the issue, the water rate debacle has its roots in Art Welch floating $110 million worth of utility bonds in 2005 – without the vote of the people.

In a recent council session, Welch stated that in 2005 the citizens of Banning were in no mood to approve any public indebtedness and even turned down a public safety tax. But such reluctance did not stop Welch from pursuing the $110M bond.

Instead of obeying the will of the People, Welch decided to bypass the voters entirely, and floated the bond without their approval – an illegal move that is nothing short of ratepayer theft . This action was taken in clear violation of Proposition 218, which Welch now claims he was unfamiliar with.

Here is Art Welch trying to explain away his theft :

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The illegal bond issuance is just one of many examples of Art Welch’s legacy of thuggery in Banning, which he has been getting away with for over 20 years, enabled largely by a clueless, detached and constantly rolling over Sun Lakes voter pool that continues to keep him in office, come hell or high water.

Three years after Welch had indebted the City, in June of 2008, Debbie Franklin completed the ratepayer theft by approving the use the money for a $17M police station. By doing so, Franklin snubbed her nose at Finance Director Bonnie Johnson, who warned that spending the money would create severe shortfalls down the road. Franklin approved the expenditure regardless, leading up to the shortfall we experience today.

We have already detailed this debacle in length in the past, (please view this article). Recently we had speculated that Franklin may have had ulterior motives when she voted to spend the money, (please view this article).

In 2017, Councilman Don Peterson gave an excellent synopsis in which he laid out the history of Franklin’s and Welch’s illegal activities in syphoning off the waterbond funds:

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FRANKLIN AND WELCH – TWO LOW-IQ INDIVIDUALS WHO FINANCIALLY RAPE AND PILLAGE THE COMMUNITY

Bloodshot eyes and slurred speech are known trademarks of a hardcore alcoholic. But they are not the only ones. Individuals engaged in this lifestyle are also bound to lose “grey matter” at an accelerated rate, resulting in a sharply reduced IQ.

Undoubtedly, all of these symptoms can be observed in Art Welch, (see also “Korsakoff’s Syndrome”). In a recent council meeting Welch was trying to impress the public by attempting to calculate Banning’s crime rate. In this context he concluded that if there were 10 criminal acts, a 400% increase in crime rate (as reported) would mean that only 4 more crimes would be committed, a rather negligible increase, in his opinion.

Yes, Art Welch is correct in that “percentages are deceptive” – especially when one can’t do the math!

For those who can’t believe this actually happened, here is the video:

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Banning’s problem is that this drunken assclown, who is too dense to do even the simplest of math, is in charge of tens of millions of our tax dollars. Is it any wonder that Banning is never going anywhere?

And then there is Debbie Franklin, one of Banning’s most deceptive and incompetent individuals ever to sit on the City council.

Unlike Welch, Franklin is not prone to alcoholism. Instead, she must be considered ignorant by default. That she is also a pathological liar is only compounding the problem.

Given these “qualities”, Debbie Franklin may be appropriately described as the “Maxine Waters of Banning” .

Please watch this video :

 

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Indeed, both Waters and Franklin conduct themselves indicative of having an IQ just slightly above room temperature.

Take for example Franklin’s recent statement that 7,000 sqft represent 1/3 of an acre (when in reality it represents 1/6 of an acre being 43,560 sf).

Franklin’s lack of basic high school level knowledge is frightening, and is further compounded by her deceptive statement that she lives comfortably on 7,000 sqft, when in reality her property is twice this size. The level of stupidity and ignorance of a Debbie Franklin should scare the daylights out of every Banning citizen.

Here is the video:

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Using her own falsehoods, Franklin recently made lot size decisions on an 800 acre development, where she approved postage stamp lots so tiny, that a full size pickup truck parked in a driveway will intrude into the sidewalk. But then again, what else would you expect from this quasi-illiterate trash sitting on the City council?

Don’t, however, expect either Franklin or Welch to consider resigning in total embarrassment. Sociopaths like the two of them know no shame whatsoever, nor are they capable of feeling remorse. Instead, both have convinced themselves to be great gifts to Banning, falsely pretending to be highly qualified to continue making multi million dollar decisions for the City.

Yes, Welch and Franklin are indeed low-IQ individuals, who keep claiming to know what’s good for us – and will do so as long as we allow them to. They will continue to rake us over the barrel, unless we stop them cold in their tracks.

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INSTEAD OF A RATE HIKE: CITY HAS PLENTY OF ASSETS THAT COULD BE LIQUIDATED

Rate hikes are not the only option. The City currenty has $12M in cash reserves. $5M could be returned to the water utility without jeopardizing the City’s position.

The City also owns an abundance of real property that lends itself to liquidation, as it generates no income.

The police station, built with funds stolen from the ratepayers, could be sold to an investor group and leased back for 20 years. Sale/leasebacks are commonplace in the real estate industry. We estimate about $10M could be generated this way.

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Yet none of these alternatives were ever explored by those who voted in favor of the rate hike (Franklin, Welch, Moyer).

It is just so much easier to force the public to pay higher rates.

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.CONCLUSION

Just what right do Debbie Franklin and Art Welch have, to dictate to us that we now must come up with the money that they have already stolen from us?

The arrogance of their vote to raise our water rates is truly beyond belief. It brings to mind the oppressive “Pigs” of George Orwell’s classic novel “Animal Farm”.

Are we going to allow these self-righteous pigs to first steal from us and then spit in our faces? – It is time to rise up, Banning ! Enough is enough!

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