Ex-Mayor Mann pushes for repeal of Measure DD sales tax

Scott Mann (left) and John Smelser have co-authored language for a petition to recall the Measure DD tax increase.

Former Menifee Mayor Scott Mann is one of two residents who have authored a petition designed to ask voters to repeal Measure DD, the 1 percent sales tax increase voters approved a year ago.

The petition is co-authored by Mann and John Smelser, another longtime resident of Menifee. Smelser was working on a petition to place on the ballot a measure to make all zip codes within the city be officially recognized by the Post Office as Menifee rather than Sun City, Romoland or Quail Valley. Mann and Smelser told Menifee 24/7 they have joined forces to co-author both petitions and will circulate them together once they are approved.

"There’s a (unnamed) third party in Sun City I've been dealing with over nine years," said Smelser, who was looking for help in promoting a petition regarding the zip code confusion. "I asked him if he knew some people to help me get some people to get signatures.

"He said, 'I've got just the guy for you.' He sent me to Scott Mann, who was working on his own petition to rescind the sales tax. We’ve joined forces. He has a source for funding and he’s going to fund it for me. When we knock on the door, we’ll have both petitions for people to sign."

The petition about the postal designation will be discussed in a separate Menifee 24/7 article. The first questions put to Mann and Smelser were regarding the effort to repeal Measure DD.

That ballot measure was proposed by city staff and the City Council for last November's election in order to provide additional funding for public safety -- primarily additional police manpower and road improvements. The ballot measure passed, with 68 percent of the voters approving it. At the time, it was promoted by city officials as a necessity to keep the city safe and moving forward.

Also at the time, it was said to be necessary because the City had been denied an estimated $4 million per year by the state through legislation by the governor that denied four Riverside County cities their share of vehicle license fees paid by residents. All other cities receive those fees, but Menifee was among the few recently incorporated cities that had been denied the fees since 2011.

In May of this year, Gov. Jerry Brown changed his stance on the issue and signed into law SB130, which restored VLF fees to Menifee, in a ceremony celebrated by local officials (left). Brown also got lawmakers to push through SB1, the 12 cent per gallon tax increase that recently went into effect.

Mann said he immediately began working on efforts designed to repeal Measure DD, which he now says is unnecessary.

"The VLF money is distributed to all cities on a per capita basis," Mann said. "We’ve always used the metric of anywhere from $4.2 to $4.5 million a year in lost revenue for Menifee. But the sales tax increase essentially increased Menifee’s revenue by $7 million. Now that the VLF funding is restored, you look at $4.5 million vs. $7 million for Measure DD, and I respectfully submit to every one of your readers that we don’t need it.

"It’s the City Council's fiduciary responsibility to put this on the agenda and discuss it and put it back on the ballot or rescind it themselves. If not, we’re going to get the signatures no matter what. It’s going to be on the ballot whether they want it to be or not."

Mann and Smelser signed and submitted the "intent to circulate a petition" form at City Hall on Monday. The City has 15 days to review the petition language before its authors can advertise their intent in a local newspaper. They then have 180 days to get the required number of signatures.

Mann says that number is 2,283 -- 5 percent of the registered voters. City clerk Sarah Manwaring said city officials are seeking a determination of whether that figure is correct or whether the petition would require signatures of 10 percent of the voters, as most petitions do.

While that is being decided, there seem to be two big questions Menifee residents will face:

-- Is it necessary to the financial security and public safety of Menifee to keep the Measure DD funds in addition to the VLF fees, as most city officials claim?

-- Should Mann's controversial past, including a penalty for misappropriation of campaign funds, be a factor in the decision of whether to support his petition effort?

Mann lost a bid for re-election as mayor to Neil Winter (right) last November, weeks after it was announced by the Fair Political Practices Commission that Mann had agreed to pay a $60,000 fine as part of a settlement after admitting to personal use of campaign funds. Mann was accused of using a total of $44,894 from campaign funds for personal use, including vacation, travel, dining expenses, personal tax relief expenses, personal vehicle repair and registration, and personal expenses related to a family wedding in Malibu, according to an FPPC news release.

A month earlier, Mann's council colleagues had expressed concern at the discovery that City Manager Rob Johnson had authorized a $12,400 check at the request of Mann to pay for a three-week seminar at Harvard. The expense was not budgeted and the check was voided when the news broke.

Mann has remained out of the public spotlight since his loss to Winter, but there are rumors he plans to run for the District 4 City Council seat being vacated by John Denver a year from how. Mann, who previously lived in District 3, now lives in District 4 and would be eligible to run for the position.

Mann was first asked by Menifee 24/7 whether he intended to run for City Council next year.

"I keep all options open," Mann said. "There are a substantial number of people asking me to run. I have not said yes or no to anybody.

"I’ve learned in my public life never to say never, but this is my focus right now. In an era when the federal government is seeking to reduce income taxes and when Sacramento keeps increasing tax after tax, the voters in Menifee are going to have an opportunity to reduce their sales tax and give them some relief at the local level."

Mann was then asked what he would say to those who have quietly suggested that his petition drive is part of a ploy to divert critics' attention away from his previous controversies and portray him as a champion for the people heading into a City Council campaign.

"I’d say shame on them, and I really don’t care what they think," Mann replied. "This effort has absolutely nothing to do with Scott Mann. It has nothing to do with Scott Mann’s service on the City Council or the school board. This has to do with effecting a change to public policy, how things are funded, and providing the citizens of Menifee with some modicum of tax relief.

"What I mean by shame on those people ... those people I don’t even have time for. The issues are not intertwined. With respect to those things, what’s done is done in terms of what happened to me. What happened to me had absolutely nothing to with the City of Menifee whatsoever.

"If voters can’t make a distinction between my past service and this issue they’re going to have to make a decision on next November, then they shouldn’t be voting in the first place."

City officials contacted by Menifee 24/7 on Thursday had no comment on a potential platform strategy for Mann because Mann has not announced a candidacy and wouldn't have to until next August, when the application period opens. Two of them did, however, express concern with Mann's efforts to overturn a voter-approved ballot measure for what they believe are vitally needed funds for the City moving forward.

"Respectfully, if Scott Mann wants to be a champion for the people, he should respect what the people voted for," said Council member Matt Liesemeyer (above left). "He’s effectively spitting on the people by trying to remove their voice.

"We don’t know the sales pitch Scott Mann will make to those people to get those signatures. It’s not a fair process, in my opinion, where there's no opportunity for rebuttal. The City Council should never be forced into a position of removing the votes of the people."

Winter said the City will soon present updated financial data showing the public not only what the VLF fees and Measure DD funds have been used for, but projections showing how increasing costs make it necessary to retain both revenue streams. In addition, a council-appointed Measure DD oversight committee of Menifee residents is studying the use of those funds.

"We started receiving the first DD installment in July," Winter said. "We had put that into the budget for next year, but also for future budgets. Then when the VLF fees hit and we received those funds, all of it went into current budget and future budgets.

"We put $4.25 million into pavement management because the roads were suffering. All of this was funding from Measure DD for public safety and the improvement of infrastructure. We needed additional funds for adding police and supplementing the fire department.

"I think it’s a little too early to make any decisions about repealing a tax of which we haven’t received the full benefit yet."

Smelser said he is not concerned about any potential negative sentiment against Mann as the two move forward with the petition.

"We all do things," Smelser said. "Things are sometimes misinterpreted. I can tell you that he sounds legitimate.

"If you did something bad and then you're trying to do something good, would you not let someone do something good? I’ve made my decision and I’m comfortable with it."