Court report: Everything on hold

We just received word that all San Bernardino County courts are taking a break from everything but emergency hearings until April 2nd, which means there will be no updates on the Town of Apple Valley’s eminent domain case against Liberty Utilities until after court reconvenes.

Hidden light on TOAV financials (Rice)

The Apple Valley town manager was hired in January 2018 with financial expertise emphasized to solve deficiencies; assistant town managers were let go. Today, there is no final budget for 2019-20, missing the legal deadline again for a month+. There also is a Prop 218 legal settlement of $3.15 million including $1+ million in legal fees expense, refusal to make any simple column calculation of monthly treasury reports for $50 million investment values management, no fund balances and no monthly department reports.

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More evidence that small government works better (Mitchell)

I explained last year that there is an inverse relationship between government efficiency and the size of government.

And Mark Steyn made the same point, using humor, back in 2012.

Interestingly, we have some unexpected allies.

In a recently released study, two economists for the World Bank decided to investigate the effectiveness of government spending.

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‘Costs continue to rise for Missoula’s water utility’ (Rhoades)

The condemnation of Mountain Water Company was a victory not for good government, efficient utilities or the rate-paying public. It was a victory for lawyers, ‘expert’ witnesses, and foreign bankers. Citizens got left holding the bag. Our water is the same and our rates are the same, but now we owe a mountain of debt and have to repay it without the help of what used to be one of our biggest taxpayers. I wonder if the folks in California will make the same mistake.

Read the full story here.