How would you expect to be better served by combining the offices of the Treasurer-Tax Collector and the Auditor-Controller?
The savings from combining the offices should be used to used to update office equipment and apply those savings to either expand the workforce, or increase timeliness of response.
What improvements would you like to see made in our permitting process?
Make the resources available online so people can have a step by step process and/or ability to file paperwork online thus improving the experience of handling the permitting process. Itr should be to make it easier for the public to go though the office, versus delays.
If a local excise tax is passed on the cultivation of medical marijuana, what are your priorities for those funds?
Use these funds to balance the budget in a fair and equitable way. Allow some funds to be used to help people cover the costs of energy upgrades to their homes, use the funds to make county buildings energy efficient and repair said buildings, use some of the funds to cover the Aviation Trust fund, and use the funds to pay off bond debts from various governmental agencies (school bonds, municipal bonds, etc...) (less debt is better)
What parts of the county government do you want to know more about?
What each department is doing to help the local citizens of Humboldt county.
What local issues do you care about most?
Animal abuse and welfare, and the airport. I would like to see an expansion of the Animal Control department to include more offices, the addition of a district attourney that specifically handles animal rights and abuse cases. I also would like to see the county cover the losses for the Aviation department and help pay for safety upgrade at our local airports.
What would you like to see more or less of at this meeting?

Limit the complaints and focus more on how to make things better.

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Did you know that our Treasurer-Tax Collector’s Office manages more than $1.4 billion each year? This includes investing, receiving and disbursing (paying out) money for most local government agencies in the county, like local schools, special districts and county departments. On average, this office transacts more than $5 million per day. It makes sure that each agency has enough cash on-hand for its daily operations, while investing the rest to help it grow. This office also prepares and distributes tax bills, and collects property taxes, which is more than $60 million each year. All of this work is completed by a staff of just nine people.

The Treasurer-Tax Collector works closely with the Auditor-Controller when it comes to preparing property tax bills. To determine your property tax rate, the Auditor-Controller matches up your property with the appropriate taxes, taking in to account factors like exemptions, school bonds, street lighting, fire protection, and other charges that are specific to your property. This office also is responsible for many more functions. The Auditor-Controller distributes tax revenue, prepares financial reports, processes payroll for more than 2,000 employees and processes claims for payment, among other duties. Their staff is made up of just 12 employees.

Having such a small staff in each of these departments poses problems. It is especially difficult to provide back-up coverage and plan for the future as individual employees move on. In several other counties around the state these two offices are combined into a Finance Department. If we were to combine the Auditor-Controller and Treasurer-Tax Collector, how would you expect to be served better? Please note that this issue is not related to the County Assessor’s Office.

How would you expect to be better served by combining the offices of the Treasurer-Tax Collector and the Auditor-Controller?

What is a disruptive statement?

A statement

containing personal attacks, profanity, commercial advertising or content which is entirely off-topic, and/or
from a user who has falsified their registration information with the intent to post multiple statements in one topic or to misrepresent their city of residence.
that promotes, fosters or perpetuates discrimination on the basis of race, creed, color, age, religion, gender, marital status, status with regard to public assistance, national origin, physical or mental disability or sexual orientation. Further, the County of Humboldt also reserves the right to delete comments that are: (i) spam or include links to other sites; (ii) clearly off topic; (iii) advocate illegal activity; (iv) promote particular services, products, or political organizations; (v) tend to compromise the safety or security of the public or public systems; or (vi) infringe on copyrights or trademarks.

Why does Open Town Hall monitor for disruptive statements?

OpenGov is a non-partisan company dedicated to building public trust in government and broadening civic engagement. Many people will not participate if the forum has disruptive statements.

Does Open Town Hall find many disruptive statements?

No. Disruptive statements are quite rare - less than one in a thousand statements are disruptive.

What does Open Town Hall do if they find a disruptive statement?

Open Town Hall

moves the statement to a different web page,
describes the problem in an email to the author, and
invites the author to change the statement.

Does Open Town Hall ever edit or delete statements?

Never. Only the statement's author can edit or delete a statement.

If I disagree with someone, can I post my opinion?

Yes. Open Town Hall encourages open dialog which, by necessity, includes disagreements.

How do I know if my statement is a 'disagreement' or a 'personal attack'?

Personal attacks are disparaging remarks which impute motives to a person's action. Statements of fact, or of your own opinion are generally not personal attacks.
Here are some examples of statements which are, and are not, personal attacks.

Personal Attack	Not A Personal Attack
He lied.	He said he did X, but in fact he did Y.
She misrepresented the truth.	I don't trust her.
He is greedy.	He is making plenty of money.
It is merely a power play on her part.	She will announce her candidacy soon.

What steps should we be taking this year to make our community a better place?

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20 registered responses

How would you expect to be better served by combining the offices of the Treasurer-Tax Collector and the Auditor-Controller?

What improvements would you like to see made in our permitting process?

If a local excise tax is passed on the cultivation of medical marijuana, what are your priorities for those funds?

From question on Page 4: How have you seen Measure Z improve your community?

What parts of the county government do you want to know more about?

What local issues do you care about most?

What would you like to see more or less of at this meeting?

How would you expect to be better served by combining the offices of the Treasurer-Tax Collector and the Auditor-Controller?

What improvements would you like to see made in our permitting process?

If a local excise tax is passed on the cultivation of medical marijuana, what are your priorities for those funds?

What parts of the county government do you want to know more about?

What local issues do you care about most?

What would you like to see more or less of at this meeting?

Your answers will NOT be saved

How would you expect to be better served by combining the offices of the Treasurer-Tax Collector and the Auditor-Controller?

Your answers will NOT be saved