May 28, 2026

WEST COUNTY CORNER
RISINGSUN@CALTEL.COM

DON URBANUS

Another supervisor race is in the works. Running for Supervisor in District 5 are Ben Stopper, Clyde Clapp, and Bruce Giudici. District 5 encompasses almost all of Rancho Calaveras and has almost no commercial businesses. It’s almost completely residential houses. I am not sure why the districts were divided the way they were. Right next to it is District 1, which encompasses almost all the businesses in Valley Springs as well as San Andreas, Burson, and Wallace. It’s not a balanced division. But that’s a column for another day.

I wanted to go to the only forum with the three candidates running but had to take my daughter to surgery and pick her up and take her back home. Family comes first. Fortunately, the forum was taped and posted on YouTube.

The number one issue each candidate stressed was the county budget. Clyde Clapp gave good answers. But with his fiscal and elder abuse problems, I don’t see him as a viable candidate. He had a chance before as supervisor and was voted out.

Ben Stopper has been our supervisor for over seven years. I guess the smart money would be to go with the guy with the biggest and most numerous signs, who is also the current chairman. Ben apologized for “life events” getting in the way and admitted he was “not able to make the time” to do certain parts of his job. Apparently, he promised to quit his job as a water quality specialist working for CCWD if elected supervisor back in 2018. He didn’t quit, however, but was recently let go or fired. His website, when he ran back in 2018, is still active but has never been updated in eight years. Many people who don’t currently back him are listed as supporters. I have spoken to numerous people who say Ben doesn’t return phone calls or emails, including to county staff. He has even missed a couple of supervisor meetings. I called his phone number listed on the county website. A recording told me it was not available because the voicemail was full. It appears that Ben still doesn’t have the time to do his job.

I think Bruce Giudici would be a better choice. Bruce has 25 years of fiscal experience in non-profits and government agencies managing budgets. He was most recently the CFO of Amador/Tuolumne Community Action Agency for the last ten years, which had a budget of $12 million, and a $24 million budget when he was with San Joaquin Head Start. He talks about himself as a numbers guy. He taught college business accounting for five years. He stated in the forum that you need to “look at the entire budget, all the funding sources plus expenses, and tweak revenue and expenditures to get into balance.” Plus, Bruce intends to hold regular weekly office hours in D5 so people can share their ideas and concerns with him.

I understand that the supervisors depend on the figures given to them by the number crunchers. But wouldn’t it be better to have as a supervisor a guy like Bruce who has crunched the numbers before over a couple of decades?

According to someone who works in county government (and asked me not to reveal their name), this county is in a fiscal crisis. Twenty people could soon be laid off later this year. The total could expand to fifty in the next 2 years. I was told: “The financial mismanagement within the administration office is crazy. They have allowed unfettered spending, made poor financial projections, squandered investment opportunities, and have not supported development and growth. It’s pretty simple what will happen when you spend more money than you make.”

I understand that the supervisors depend on figures given to them by the county number crunchers. But wouldn’t it be better to have as a supervisor a guy like Bruce who has crunched the numbers before over a couple of decades?

According to my source, one of the reasons we’ve had issues with the budget was because we didn’t have a solid CAO/ CEO at the helm for the last several years. Which is one of the reasons the former auditor controller retired. “Over the past several years, I have seen a balanced budget go almost $8.5M in the hole. By kicking the can down the road and bankrolling unfunded liabilities, the situation compounds. We got down to a $2M deficit over 3 years ago and then BOOM the county did an employee compensation and class study that only benefited certain people. We squandered one-time monies (PG&E Butte Fire settlement, ARPA, etc.) on things that didn’t provide a return on investment or meaningful long-term investment into our communities. Our cash flow is another issue now that property owners have the opportunity to make monthly tax payments instead of 2 bulk payments a year. It is more imperative that county fiscal folks understand how that aligns with budget timeline projections. If you don’t strategize how your cash flow goes, then you end up borrowing funds to carry you through, use one-time monies, or contingency funds, and that is crazy when interest rates are high! We have allowed capital improvement projects to go WAY over budget. The county administration office has one of the “healthiest” budgets with the CEO earning approximately $255K/year, an Assistant CEO making around $200K/year and a couple of deputy CEOs around the $178K/year mark!!! It’s nuts.”

Sounds like whoever is elected is going to have a mess to deal with. Should we pick the guy who is too busy to answer the phone or the guy with 25 years of experience in budgets?