Taxpayers Now Paying Over $41K Monthly for Protection Services
- Media
- Aug 25, 2024
- 2 min read
Why does Nora Vargas, Supervisor District One, need body guards? Not one body guard but three with their own SUV and gas card. I don't remember any other Supervisor—present or past— needing protection. And not to the tune of $41,500 a month . . . do your math . . . that's $498K a year or nearly a cool half mil. If you're like most people being swallowed up by higher prices on gas, food, housing, clothing, etc., now you can add your Supervisor's body guards to your budget.
San Diego (KGTV) recently produced Invoice shows 3 guards assigned to county supervisor. Click on the underlined link to read their "Team 10 Investigates" story.
From what I gathered from some NextDoor comments, Supervisor Vargas' constituents aren't very happy with her. It started with someone saying they had written Ms. Vargas three times and never received a response from her or her staff. Most of the comments were less than positive after that.
The SDC District 1 website reports the following:
San Diego County District 1 includes the following cities and communities:
Incorporated cities: Chula Vista, Imperial Beach, and National City
Unincorporated communities: Bonita, Sunnyside, La Presa, Lincoln Acres, and East Otay Mesa
San Diego neighborhoods: Barrio Logan, Chollas View, East Village, Golden Hill, Grant Hill, Lincoln Park, Logan Heights, Memorial, Mount Hope, and Mountain View
District 1 also includes the following communities:
Carmel Valley
Del Mar Mesa
La Jolla
Pacific Beach
Pacific Highlands Ranch
Torrey Hills
Torrey Pines
University City
District 1 has a population of over 630,000 and Nora Vargas is the chairwoman.
A spokesperson for Vargas declined to give precise details on why she now requires a security detail. Will the three personnel be used to cover her when she does her personal errands or just for County-related appointments? Is the security 24/7 or 8 hours for five work days a week?
I've heard there are complaints that several times she has not made it to community meetings when she was asked to attend. Maybe she has been sticking close to her office. But these complaints have been aired over the last three plus years and not just recently.
She'll have to try harder with an election looming in November . . . especially when her constituents are paying for body guards now.
Source: San Diego (KGTV) Team 10 Investigates
Second Source: NextDoor
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