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(CBS Sacramento)   Gas is expensive in California, but these former city employees wouldn't know it   (sacramento.cbslocal.com) divider line
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    More: Fail, Pump, former city employees, Pumps, Filling station, Gasoline, Fuel dispenser, Termination of employment, city auditor's office  
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6236 clicks; posted to Main » on 17 Aug 2019 at 1:46 AM (4 years ago)   |   Favorite    |   share:  Copy Link



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ArcadianRefugee  
Smartest (3)   Funniest (14)  
2019-08-17 2:06:48 AM  
An audit found nearly 60 former city employees were still getting "free gas" using their old employee IDs. From ambulances to the claw, Sacramento has hundreds of vehicles in its fleet and they all need gas.

vignette.wikia.nocookie.netView Full Size
 
kendelrio  
Smartest (3)   Funniest (1)  
2019-08-17 2:07:15 AM  
10,000 gallons cost $30,000. Someone isn't paying their gas tax...

And as far as the cost of cameras, as long as it's less than $30,000, it's a win.
 
wildcardjack [TotalFark]  
Smartest (4)   Funniest (0)  
2019-08-17 2:09:24 AM  

kendelrio: 10,000 gallons cost $30,000. Someone isn't paying their gas tax...

And as far as the cost of cameras, as long as it's less than $30,000, it's a win.


Ummm, governments generally skip the taxes because of the whole circulation problem.
 
AmbassadorBooze  
Smartest (0)   Funniest (3)  
2019-08-17 2:11:47 AM  

kendelrio: 10,000 gallons cost $30,000. Someone isn't paying their gas tax...

And as far as the cost of cameras, as long as it's less than $30,000, it's a win.


You also have to factor in the gas that would be stolen if there were no cameras.  How much gas are the cameras saving from the people who fear being caught?

I say get rid of the cameras, but make it so that any person may turn in a city gas theif, and recieve for free the amount of gas the theif would have likely stolen.  And then make the thieves fight each other to the death to eat.  Make them cannibalize each other in a thunder dome to survive.  Day after day of raw flesh or death.  Until they give up and get eaten, or we run out of gas theives and they starve to death.  I bet gas theft goes down real quick after the first few weeks of telivised cannibalism.
 
kendelrio  
Smartest (1)   Funniest (0)  
2019-08-17 2:11:48 AM  

wildcardjack: kendelrio: 10,000 gallons cost $30,000. Someone isn't paying their gas tax...

And as far as the cost of cameras, as long as it's less than $30,000, it's a win.

Ummm, governments generally skip the taxes because of the whole circulation problem.


Not being a douche, what do you mean "circulation" problem? I'm trying to think of what you mean, but I keep hearing my nana (rest her soul) biatching about her hands being cold in July because of her circulation problems.
 
DoctorCal  
Smartest (0)   Funniest (8)  
2019-08-17 2:14:45 AM  

kendelrio: wildcardjack: kendelrio: 10,000 gallons cost $30,000. Someone isn't paying their gas tax...

And as far as the cost of cameras, as long as it's less than $30,000, it's a win.

Ummm, governments generally skip the taxes because of the whole circulation problem.

Not being a douche, what do you mean "circulation" problem? I'm trying to think of what you mean, but I keep hearing my nana (rest her soul) biatching about her hands being cold in July because of her circulation problems.


Wilford Brimley Diabeetus: The Insane Edition
Youtube 1eApR0PFP50
 
paulleah  
Smartest (2)   Funniest (1)  
2019-08-17 2:31:46 AM  

kendelrio: wildcardjack: kendelrio: 10,000 gallons cost $30,000. Someone isn't paying their gas tax...

And as far as the cost of cameras, as long as it's less than $30,000, it's a win.

Ummm, governments generally skip the taxes because of the whole circulation problem.

Not being a douche, what do you mean "circulation" problem? I'm trying to think of what you mean, but I keep hearing my nana (rest her soul) biatching about her hands being cold in July because of her circulation problems.


Collecting taxes that you need to file to pay yourself.
 
fusillade762  
Smartest (0)   Funniest (5)  
2019-08-17 2:36:14 AM  
Fark user imageView Full Size
 
puffy999 [TotalFark]  
Smartest (0)   Funniest (0)  
2019-08-17 2:41:16 AM  
Gas prices at the casino near the Oregon border on 101 (at the tribal casino) are comparable to our south coast Oregon prices. Down in Crescent City it's almost a dollar more per gallon (that was the last time I was down that way).

Is the native reservation gas price thing normal throughout California, or is it just a local/border thing?
I mean, damn, that price difference is worth the trip at least if you're in Crescent City...
 
wildcardjack [TotalFark]  
Smartest (5)   Funniest (0)  
2019-08-17 2:43:17 AM  

kendelrio: wildcardjack: kendelrio: 10,000 gallons cost $30,000. Someone isn't paying their gas tax...

And as far as the cost of cameras, as long as it's less than $30,000, it's a win.

Ummm, governments generally skip the taxes because of the whole circulation problem.

Not being a douche, what do you mean "circulation" problem? I'm trying to think of what you mean, but I keep hearing my nana (rest her soul) biatching about her hands being cold in July because of her circulation problems.


Governments exempt themselves from paying taxes because they are tax gatherers. If they paid taxes om their purchases, the money would go back to the governments and involve expenses in their distribution.
 
Emposter [OhFark]  
Smartest (4)   Funniest (0)  
2019-08-17 2:45:23 AM  
I like their generic non-answer answer.  Oh, we'll maybe give updated training and discipline if necessary.  How will either of those things affect people who don't work for you anymore?  Are you going to hire them back so you can make them watch webinars?
 
jjorsett  
Smartest (3)   Funniest (2)  
2019-08-17 3:10:09 AM  
"Why did you not have controls in place to prevent theft from former employees?"

"We don't comment on personnel issues."
 
SafetyThird  
Smartest (9)   Funniest (1)  
2019-08-17 3:27:12 AM  
I live on the coast right in the middle of LA and SF. We have the highest prices in the state because reasons.

We have oil here. We have a refinery here. But we have to have our gas shipped here for some reason. California politics. They shut down a plan to add a spur rail line to the refinery because of... safety. So they'd rather transfer it over the highway where tanker trucks magically don't have more accidents than trains. Especially those near other people. Trucks instead of trains! Trucks that haul millions of gallons of stuff all over the 2 lane 101 up and down the coast.

There's not enough face palms in the universe to explain California politics.
 
kendelrio  
Smartest (0)   Funniest (0)  
2019-08-17 3:31:56 AM  

SafetyThird: I live on the coast right in the middle of LA and SF. We have the highest prices in the state because reasons.

We have oil here. We have a refinery here. But we have to have our gas shipped here for some reason. California politics. They shut down a plan to add a spur rail line to the refinery because of... safety. So they'd rather transfer it over the highway where tanker trucks magically don't have more accidents than trains. Especially those near other people. Trucks instead of trains! Trucks that haul millions of gallons of stuff all over the 2 lane 101 up and down the coast.

There's not enough face palms in the universe to explain California politics.


Little tidbit about the rigs out there: they have no generators of their own to create power etc. All of their electrical needs are met via an underwater umbilical (think and extension cord that had a 12" diameter).

I work with the company that was hired to replace them a few years back. Quietest rigs I've ever been on.
 
puffy999 [TotalFark]  
Smartest (0)   Funniest (0)  
2019-08-17 3:40:19 AM  

SafetyThird: So they'd rather transfer it over the highway where tanker trucks magically don't have more accidents than trains.


Potential problems with trains:
1) More likely to be near water, for gradient reasons.
2) Not necessarily easy to regulate or assist if there's a problem, for one reason or another.

I'm not defending California's decision, I'm just giving reasons why they may have made it. That 1991 train spill near Dunsmuir may have sort-of given them reason to be cautious.
 
Somaticasual [TotalFark]  
Smartest (0)   Funniest (0)  
2019-08-17 3:40:51 AM  

SafetyThird: There's not enough face palms in the universe to explain California politics.


That really should be california's state motto, speaking for the rest of the states...
 
puffy999 [TotalFark]  
Smartest (1)   Funniest (0)  
2019-08-17 3:43:14 AM  
I mean, it's weird to say, but in parts of the country (particularly the rural west) we really *don't* have emergency alternatives other than roads. It's almost better to have a spill on a road (or a fire) than on train tracks or even a random rural property.
 
tkil  
Smartest (1)   Funniest (0)  
2019-08-17 3:53:13 AM  
SLO-ish? [Clicks on profile ...] Pretty close. :-) I make it down to SLO 2-3 times per year.

It's a beautiful area: I did SLO -> Santa Margarita -> Carizo Plains NM -> Santa Maria -> SLO back in March:
Fark user imageView Full Size

The wildflowers were worth it. Full size (about 11.5k x 1.4k, 3.4MiB).
Fark user image

I bet you where hammered by the heat recently. Yup, ouch. (On the other paw, it was that hot at I-280 & CA-84 the other day, so...)

California refinery rules are crazy, but CARB does seem to have helped -- I visited LA back in the 1980s, and the air is definitely clearer now than it was then. Whether it offset the growth in the last few decades is another question. :-( (Says the hypocrite who moved to the SF Bay Area only 6 years ago.)
 
tkil  
Smartest (0)   Funniest (0)  
2019-08-17 3:54:07 AM  

tkil: SLO-ish? [Clicks on profile ...] Pretty close. :-) I make it down to SLO 2-3 times per year.

It's a beautiful area: I did SLO -> Santa Margarita -> Carizo Plains NM -> Santa Maria -> SLO back in March:
[Fark user image image 425x249]
The wildflowers were worth it. Full size (about 11.5k x 1.4k, 3.4MiB).
[Fark user image image 425x49]

I bet you where hammered by the heat recently. Yup, ouch. (On the other paw, it was that hot at I-280 & CA-84 the other day, so...)

California refinery rules are crazy, but CARB does seem to have helped -- I visited LA back in the 1980s, and the air is definitely clearer now than it was then. Whether it offset the growth in the last few decades is another question. :-( (Says the hypocrite who moved to the SF Bay Area only 6 years ago.)


(This was meant to be a reply to SafetyThird, but either Fark or I was having issues this evening...)
 
Kraig57  
Smartest (1)   Funniest (0)  
2019-08-17 4:06:34 AM  

kendelrio: 10,000 gallons cost $30,000. Someone isn't paying their gas tax...

And as far as the cost of cameras, as long as it's less than $30,000, it's a win.


Gas at the Costco in central California retails for 3.09/gal.
 
Tom Marvolo Bombadil  
Smartest (0)   Funniest (0)  
2019-08-17 4:17:14 AM  
The audit found the fleet management division was being notified when workers left city service, but they failed to revoke their gas pump access.
...
The auditor recommends installing surveillance cameras and removing the ability to manually input employee ID numbers at fuel kiosks.

Fark user imageView Full Size
 
kendelrio  
Smartest (0)   Funniest (1)  
2019-08-17 4:27:12 AM  

Kraig57: kendelrio: 10,000 gallons cost $30,000. Someone isn't paying their gas tax...

And as far as the cost of cameras, as long as it's less than $30,000, it's a win.

Gas at the Costco in central California retails for 3.09/gal.


Yes, but do they love you?

Fark user imageView Full Size
 
SafetyThird  
Smartest (1)   Funniest (1)  
2019-08-17 4:35:00 AM  
The stupidest thing in my opinion is that we already have infrastructure to do a great service to the rest of the state. I've been screaming about it into the void for years.

There are already pipes in the ground  and rights of ways move fluids from the valley to the coast. They used to pump shiatloads of oil from the valley fields to port San Luis back in the day. They farked it (Erin brockovich)u p but the infrastructure  is still there. I've personally seen the access hatches and people working on them along highway 58. I used to live there.

Anyways, we could replace Diablo, the last nuclear power plant on the west coast, with better model on the same site and power a huge desalinization plant to put water into the aquaduct.

But no, were shutting that plant down. No replacement. The plant already has a pretty impressive deal desal going on. But because it's California that just can't happen.

I'm just drunk shiat posting on vacation in Las Vegas so take that for what it's worth.
 
Cajnik [OhFark]  
Smartest (0)   Funniest (0)  
2019-08-17 5:07:52 AM  
I usually fill up at the city maintenance station, so I'm getting a kick. But I don't drive a giant, construction orange Tatra or Praga so I pay full price (~$5 gallon).

tatra-club.comView Full Size
 
Insain2  
Smartest (3)   Funniest (0)  
2019-08-17 6:51:37 AM  
What ever happened to "Turning in your ID" when you're terminated from the job????  I had to when I worked for the City of De-toilet.....
 
ThighsofGlory  
Smartest (0)   Funniest (2)  
2019-08-17 8:39:44 AM  

Somaticasual: SafetyThird: There's not enough face palms in the universe to explain California politics.

That really should be california's state motto, speaking for the rest of the states...


The current state motto is "Merge?"
 
jumac  
Smartest (1)   Funniest (0)  
2019-08-17 8:47:40 AM  

Insain2: What ever happened to "Turning in your ID" when you're terminated from the job????  I had to when I worked for the City of De-toilet.....


Based on the story you could input your id number into the pumps by hand.  The issue was that the department in charge of the pumps was not removing the ids form the system.  So even if you where fired and didn't have your ID.  Your info was in the system still just hand enter your number and set.
 
kb7rky  
Smartest (0)   Funniest (0)  
2019-08-17 9:00:38 AM  
With gas as expensive as it is, can you really blame them?
 
nanim  
Smartest (0)   Funniest (0)  
2019-08-17 9:19:25 AM  
Quite a haul those gas taxes by state...

http://www.tax-rates.org/taxtables/excise-tax-by-state
 
MythDragon  
Smartest (3)   Funniest (1)  
2019-08-17 9:23:16 AM  

AmbassadorBooze: kendelrio: 10,000 gallons cost $30,000. Someone isn't paying their gas tax...

And as far as the cost of cameras, as long as it's less than $30,000, it's a win.

You also have to factor in the gas that would be stolen if there were no cameras.  How much gas are the cameras saving from the people who fear being caught?

I say get rid of the cameras, but make it so that any person may turn in a city gas theif, and recieve for free the amount of gas the theif would have likely stolen.  And then make the thieves fight each other to the death to eat.  Make them cannibalize each other in a thunder dome to survive.  Day after day of raw flesh or death.  Until they give up and get eaten, or we run out of gas theives and they starve to death.  I bet gas theft goes down real quick after the first few weeks of telivised cannibalism.


Aaaaand this is why you're not in charge.
 
Someone Else's Alt  
Smartest (8)   Funniest (0)  
2019-08-17 9:24:44 AM  

jumac: Insain2: What ever happened to "Turning in your ID" when you're terminated from the job????  I had to when I worked for the City of De-toilet.....

Based on the story you could input your id number into the pumps by hand.  The issue was that the department in charge of the pumps was not removing the ids form the system.  So even if you where fired and didn't have your ID.  Your info was in the system still just hand enter your number and set.


I used to be the public works director for Key West FL. When they gave me the job, first thing I did was audit all the inventory, tool, vehicle and cash controls. Parking was in my department as well so that included coin parking meters and cash/credit parking lots. We had a guy that was stealing so many quarters from the meters that he designed an extra heavy duty push cart for his wife to take them to bank to deposit.

The city used ether a four digit code punched on a key pad or an RFID chip, each employee got an RFID chip that identified them and each vehicle got an RFID chip so DOT could track how much gas was put in which vehicle and by whom. Sounds ok so far right?

I go to my office after hours one night to grab some PPE for my guys working a special event on Duval street, about 8pm or so and I see a City cop putting gas into what looks like a personal vehicle. I ignored it for the minute but asked my street foreman about it in the am. He says, "Oh yeah, a bunch of the cops, some of he the fire fighters, a couple people from the city managers office, pretty much all get gas at night in their personal cars."  So I audit it. A couple of people lost jobs because of the shear amount they had stole, one firefighter had been filling his farking offshore fishing boat every weekend for months. Just backed the boat in on a trailer broad daylight on Saturday am and filled it up. Anyway, the audit showed most the current employees that were helping themselves to gas were using former employee access codes that had never been cancelled out and the chips from the city vehicle they were issued. I killed all the access codes, installed four cameras, issued all new RFID chips for the employees and vehicles and that pretty much stopped all that nonsense.
 
Truck Fump  
Smartest (1)   Funniest (0)  
2019-08-17 9:27:00 AM  

jumac: Insain2: What ever happened to "Turning in your ID" when you're terminated from the job????  I had to when I worked for the City of De-toilet.....

Based on the story you could input your id number into the pumps by hand.  The issue was that the department in charge of the pumps was not removing the ids form the system. So even if you where fired and didn't have your ID.  Your info was in the system still just hand enter your number and set.


There's your problem, right there.
A little investigation into why that basic step wasn't being taken might find all kinds of shenanigans going on.

Like, perhaps some senior people filling up their personal vehicles on the government's dime?
 
TheGreatGazoo  
Smartest (1)   Funniest (0)  
2019-08-17 9:35:40 AM  

Truck Fump: Like, perhaps some senior people filling up their personal vehicles on the government's dime?


Bingo.  The first rule of shenanigans is to make sure your boss is in on it.
 
Someone Else's Alt  
Smartest (1)   Funniest (0)  
2019-08-17 9:37:17 AM  

Someone Else's Alt: jumac: Insain2: What ever happened to "Turning in your ID" when you're terminated from the job????  I had to when I worked for the City of De-toilet.....

We had a guy that was stealing so many quarters from the meters that he designed an extra heavy duty push cart for his wife to take them to bank to deposit.


Article about the quarter thief that had his wife hauling $2,000 a week in quarter into the bank for deposit.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1615038/posts

A few years later he was fired he and his brother worked up this little IRS tax fraud deal filing false tax returns for inmates.
https://archives.fbi.gov/archives/miami/press-releases/2010/mm030510b.html
 
DarkVader  
Smartest (0)   Funniest (0)  
2019-08-17 9:44:55 AM  

SafetyThird: Anyways, we could replace Diablo, the last nuclear power plant on the west coast, with better model on the same site and power a huge desalinization plant to put water into the aquaduct.

But no, were shutting that plant down. No replacement. The plant already has a pretty impressive deal desal going on. But because it's California that just can't happen.


Because nuke power costs double what solar power does.  And CA gets a lot of sun.

There's plenty of replacement.  They're mandating solar panels on all new buildings.
 
jso2897 [TotalFark]  
Smartest (0)   Funniest (2)  
2019-08-17 11:10:55 AM  

Somaticasual: SafetyThird: There's not enough face palms in the universe to explain California politics.

That really should be california's state motto, speaking for the rest of the states...


Yeah, the place is a hellhole. Don't even consider coming here, ever, and please tell anyone you know who is even remotely like you not to come either - thanks!
 
grimlock1972  
Smartest (0)   Funniest (0)  
2019-08-17 2:13:01 PM  
"The audit found the fleet management division was being notified when workers left city service, but they failed to revoke their gas pump access."

There's your problem.  you did not get shiat done inthe office so that it was not possible for this to happen and so enable it.   Whether this was caused by inefficiency, human error , laziness or even deliberately it could have been prevented.

I am not excusing the folks who took advantage of it but i am not letting the city off scot free either.
 
Somaticasual [TotalFark]  
Smartest (0)   Funniest (0)  
2019-08-17 6:30:29 PM  

jso2897: Somaticasual: SafetyThird: There's not enough face palms in the universe to explain California politics.

That really should be california's state motto, speaking for the rest of the states...

Yeah, the place is a hellhole. Don't even consider coming here, ever, and please tell anyone you know who is even remotely like you not to come either - thanks!


OK. But in exchange, no more cali transplants in Austin....

//you have a beautiful state with politicians that vaguely remind me collectively of a mental health ward...
 
SafetyThird  
Smartest (1)   Funniest (1)  
2019-08-17 8:14:31 PM  

Somaticasual: jso2897: Somaticasual: SafetyThird: There's not enough face palms in the universe to explain California politics.

That really should be california's state motto, speaking for the rest of the states...

Yeah, the place is a hellhole. Don't even consider coming here, ever, and please tell anyone you know who is even remotely like you not to come either - thanks!

OK. But in exchange, no more cali transplants in Austin....

//you have a beautiful state with politicians that vaguely remind me collectively of a mental health ward...


Isn't that the problem though? Californians elect people who make bad policy. When that predictably goes to shiat those same people who voted for the bad policies find that it makes California unlivable. So they move. And elect the same sort of idiots that enact the same bad policy that forced them out of California.

I know 3 couples that moved to the Pacific North West in the last year. Another that moved to Austin. A few more that moved to other parts of the US. Many more planning their escape right now.

We're a cancer that is spreading. We elected the guy responsible for the SF poop locator app to be the governor. We have politician who slept her way into government running for president. We have another anti gun politician that was convicted of running guns. We have a state representative that employed a Chinese spy for years. The farking list goes on and on.

If other states were smart they'd build a wall around our borders.
 
SloppyFrenchKisser  
Smartest (0)   Funniest (0)  
2019-08-17 10:08:24 PM  
I have plenty of gas to spare.
See me around 3-4am.
 
lycanth  
Smartest (0)   Funniest (0)  
2019-08-18 8:57:00 AM  

kb7rky: With gas as expensive as it is, can you really blame them?


Yes. It's called stealing. There is no defense for it.
 
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