CentralCoastTaxpayers.com
CCTA Mission Statement
The Central Coast Taxpayers Association is a non-partisan, 501(c) 4 non-profit organization with the mission to bring about more accountable, effective, efficient government and fair and equitable taxation which permits a strong, healthy economy, sensible balance and rational control of government expenditures.
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The Central Coast Taxpayers Association accepts no government funds. Our board members and sponsors are a diverse group of business, industrial and professional organizations, as well as independent local citizens concerned with the community and the most effective use of local, state and federal tax dollars.
June 23, 2025
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Today, Andrea Seastrand, President of the the Central Coast Taxpayers Association (CCTA), the taxpayers watchdog of the Central Coast of California, announced Mike Brown as the recipient of the Hero of the Taxpayers Award 2024!
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Mike Brown is the former Government Affairs Director of the Coalition of Labor, Agriculure, and Business San Luis Obispo County (COLAB of SLO). For 14 years, he represented this non-partisan, non-profit government watchdog and advocated for farmers, ranchers, vintners, developers, professional firms, contractors, and publicly spirited citizens who oppose increased government regulations, fees, and taxes.
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Brown is a graduate of the California State University at Northridge, BA in Government, and the University of Texas at Austin, MA in Public Administration. He went on to a 42 year career in local government management including service as Deputy City Manager of Hartford, Connecticut, Chief Deputy Commissioner of the Connecticut State Department of Housing, City Manager of Berkeley, City Manager of Tucson, and County Executive Officer for Santa Barbara County from which he retired after 14 years.
Brown is a Credentialed Manager of the International City/County Management Association (ICMA) and has received further professional post graduate education at the University Of Arizona Eller College Of Management, The UC Berkeley Goldman School of Public Policy, The NYU Real Estate Institute, and the Yale School of Management.
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Examples of Mike Brown's many awards, include the ICMA Distinguished Budget Aware (14 years consecutive in Santa Barbara County); The American Society For Public Administration Award for Teaching and Implementing Performance Measurement (2004); An Honorary Doctorate in Public Administration from the Tucson University (1996); four time winner of the ICMA Center For Performance Management Award For Use of Performance Measures, and, a Carnegie-Mellon University Award for Innovative Use of Information Technology.
Brown was selected by his peers to serve as Chairman of ICAM's Center for Performance Management for over a decade and to be a member of the National Advisory Commission on Performance Management.
As a city manager and county executive officer, Mike Brown had full Charter responsibility for leading major urban governments with over 5,000 employees, assets of over 2 billion dollars, and annual operating budgets of 900 million dollars.
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Past recipients of the Hero of the Taxpayers Award are: Supervisor Debbie Arnold, Supervisor John Peschong, Kevin Will, Supervisor Lynn Compton, Andy Caldwell, Congressman Kevin Kiley, Richard Patten, Kenneth Enney, and Debbie Peterson.
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