The San Diego County Taxpayers Association (SDCTA) held its 13th annual Golden Watchdog & Golden Fleece Awards dinner May 29 at the Town and Country Resort in Mission Valley, handing out humorous awards recognizing the best (“Golden Watchdog”) and worst (“Golden Fleece”) examples of regional government spending.
“Unquestionably, this is going to be a busy year for the Taxpayers Association,” SDCTA board chairman John O’Neill said to a roomful of politicians and businesspersons gathered for the Star Wars-themed dinner and show, billed as “The Taxpayers Strike Back.”
As San Diego, along with the national economy, tightens its belt even more, the public increasingly demands prudent financial decisions from its elected officials and an elimination of the egregious wastes of taxpayer funds that can happen at all levels of government.
“This isn’t the time to sit back and let politicians have their way,” said SDCTA President and CEO Lani Lutar.
The SDCTA is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization with the mission of promoting cost-efficient and effective government. It also actively lobbies for and against legislative issues, including several ballot measures. Lutar said the event raised more than $105,000 for SDCTA.
This year’s award winners include:
“¢ Golden Fleece Award-Metro: The City of Carlsbad for the Carlsbad Municipal Golf Course, a project that took nearly two decades and $63 million to complete after ten course redesigns, making it one of the most expensive municipal golf course projects in U.S. history.
“¢ Golden Fleece- Regional: Vista Unified School District for the Mission Vista High Schools, which are slated to open three years late and double the original estimated cost after several setbacks, including the original plans being completely redone because they did not have state approval.
“¢ Grand Golden Fleece Award: North County Transit District for the Sprinter. Original plans for the train began in 1990 with a $60 million cost estimate. After a series of delays and issues, the cost ended up close to half a billion dollars .As well, the rail has failed to significantly reduce traffic on Highway 78, with a trip from Oceanside to Escondido taking longer on the train than driving. Many of the Sprinter riders were previously bus riders whose routes were cancelled when the rail was completed.
“¢ Golden Watchdog-Metro: The city of San Diego for its fleet services consolidation. By streamlining the management and maintenance of city vehicles into one department, the city had an initial $3.5 million savings and expects to reduce operating and budget costs even further in coming years.
“¢ Golden Watchdog-Regional: The Regional Construction Procurement Committee for developing “best practices” that make the bidding and construction of public works projects more efficient.
“¢ Grand Golden Watchdog: San Diego County Office of Emergency Services for AlertSanDiego. The Internet-based program uses e-mail, text and phone messages to reach residents with emergency information. It is capable of reaching 1.1 million households within three hours, and after the county’s one-time investment of $230,000 and estimated annual cost of $4,000, the county no longer carries the overhead of expenses for servers, phones and maintenance.