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Shall Chapter 3.29 of the
Santa Cruz Municipal Code which levies a Utility Users Tax upon persons in
the City of Santa Cruz be repealed? |
IMPARTIAL
ANALYSIS BY CITY ATTORNEY MEASURE
P REPEAL OF CITY OF
SANTA CRUZ Currently the City of Santa Cruz imposes a utility users tax. The City’s Utility Users Tax Ordinance which authorizes the tax was originally adopted by the City Council on May 8, 1984 and went into effect on July 1, 1984. Since that time the City has continuously levied this tax. The current tax rate, which has been in effect since October 1, 1991, is 7 percent. The utility payments which are taxed pursuant to the ordinance currently include payments for electricity, gas, cable television, telephone, water, refuse collection and sewer. This initiative, if adopted by a majority of the voters, would serve to immediately repeal the City’s Utility Users Tax Ordinance thereby prohibiting the City from continuing to collect utility users taxes from its residents and automatically terminating the City’s receipt of utility user tax revenue. Utility users tax revenues are deposited in the General Fund, the City’s general operating fund. The tax revenue is used to support the City’s daily operations including many public services provided by various City departments including the Police Department, the Fire Department, the Public Works Department, the Parks and Recreation Department, the Planning and Community Development Department and the City/County Library. In addition, the tax revenue is used to support administrative services necessary to the City’s operation including services provided by the City’s Personnel Department, Finance Department, City Manager’s Department and City Attorney’s office. General tax revenues are also used to support community-based nonprofit social service providers. If the utility tax is repealed, the City will permanently lose this revenue. As explained in the Finance Director’s Fiscal Analysis, unless a replacement revenue source is identified, the repeal of the utility tax will therefore require the City to cut future annual budgets by at least $8.4 million on a permanent basis. Detailed information concerning the City’s budget is a matter of public record and is available at City Hall and at the Library. s/ John Barisone, City Attorney |
FULL TEXT OF BALLOT MEASURE P
THE
PEOPLE OF THE CITY OF SANTA CRUZ DO ORDAIN AS FOLLOWS:
FISCAL IMPACT STATEMENT BY DIRECTOR OF FINANCE
MEASURE P
The utility tax is expected to produce $8.4 million this year, almost 20% of the City’s tax receipts and general revenues. Nearly half of the City’s tax receipts and general revenues are spent for police and fire. Just over one quarter of the City’s tax receipts and general revenues are spent for parks and recreation and public works. The final quarter is spent for a variety of purposes including land use planning; maintenance of public buildings; contributions to community programs such as senior meals and child care; animal control; visitor promotion; and administration including finance, data processing, human resources, city clerk, city manager, city attorney, and city council. If the utility tax is repealed, the
City must cut annual spending by $8.4 million. If police and fire were not cut, this could be accomplished by
cutting all other services listed above by 40%. If all services including police and fire were cut the same,
the cut would be 20%. s/ David Culver Director of Finance City of Santa Cruz |
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44-507
VOTER
INFORMATION PAMPHLET
MEASURES, ANALYSES AND
ARGUMENTS (whichever is applicable to
your ballot) Arguments in support of, or in opposition to, the proposed laws are the opinions of the authors. |
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ARGUMENT IN FAVOR OF MEASURE
P
1. The Santa Cruz city utility
tax was imposed and continued for 18 years without a vote of the people,
by minority-elected city council members. It is unjust. 2. There is no tax quite as
unfair and regressive as a utility tax. Low-income families, disabled
citizens and senior citizens on fixed incomes are disproportionately affected
by the forced taxing of basic necessities. 3. The City of Santa Cruz runs
on a huge budget managed by incompetent, unskilled, and unprofessional,
special interest utopians. Undoubtedly, huge savings far greater than
the amount collected from the utility tax could be realized as Santa
Cruz employs nearly twice as many people per thousand residents as other
municipalities of similar size. 4. Many functions of the
numerous not-for-profit groups contracting with the city are unnecessarily
redundant. Consolidation would save millions of dollars over years. The same
services would still be available at different levels to our needy citizens. 5. Much of this city's
incredible expenditures are used on projects and organizations that are
staffed by political allies and cronies of the city council. Citizens
should not be gouged so that the council can buy votes and reward their
friends. One example: the proposed "Doug Rand Peace Park",
named for the campaign manager of Council members Krohn, Sugar and
Fitzmaurice. Just as a doctor would advise a morbidly obese
patient to go on a diet, so should we, the free citizens of the City of Santa
Cruz, advise the city council, our employees (not rulers), to cut their pork-laden
budget. We can afford to do as much, if not more, with less. Other cities our
size do it everyday without imposing a tax that disproportionately affects
students, the elderly, and other low income residents. s/ Alan W. Bailey, Proponent s/ Mike Schmidt, Former CEO
Santa Cruz Area Chamber of Commerce s/ Bob Lissner, Teacher (retired) s/ Steven D. Hartman, Proponent Grass Roots Organization
United for Progress (GROUP) s/ Bob Thomas, Treasurer |
Rebuttal to Argument in Favor of Measure P The Santa Cruz Fire, Parks and
Recreation, and Police Departments all rely on our City's General Fund to
provide essential services. If Measure P passes, the City would
have to slash nearly 20% of its General Fund budget, threatening services
that all residents rely on for public safety and quality of life. Cuts could
include: ·
Elementary
school crossing guards ·
Senior
nutrition and health programs ·
Paramedic
response time ·
Pothole and
street repair ·
The Civic
Auditorium and Museum of Natural History ·
Landscape
maintenance; graffiti removal ·
Teen programs
and Harvey West Pool · Gang-prevention police programs Changes in the national and state
economies have already forced cuts in this year's City budget. Now is not the
time to force additional, permanent cuts in essential services and valuable,
established programs. Utility taxes are commonly used by
other cities – nearly 100 cities in California alone – to fund local
services. They are usually opposed by
extremist anti-tax groups. Santa Cruz is a "full-service
city," meaning it provides water, recycling, sewer, trash and other
services directly to its residents. These services are self-financing, not
affected by the General Fund or utility tax. Cities which do not provide
these services have smaller budgets. Measure P is opposed by business,
education, community leaders, elected officials and local people from all
walks of life. The supporters of Measure P want you
to believe that the utility tax is a frill, not a necessity. Don't believe
them! SAVE OUR CITY! VOTE NO ON MEASURE P. s/ George Ow, Jr., Developer and
Philanthropist s/ Joe Marini, Downtown and Beach
Business Owner s/ Cindy Geise, Westside Business
Owner s/ Darrell Darling, Bed &
Breakfast Owner s/ Trink Praxel, Events Coordinator |
44-508
VOTER
INFORMATION PAMPHLET
MEASURES, ANALYSES AND
ARGUMENTS (whichever is applicable to
your ballot) Arguments in support of, or in opposition to, the proposed laws are the opinions of the authors. |
|
ARGUMENT AGAINST MEASURE P
SAVE
OUR CITY – VOTE NO ON P. Santa Cruz residents
can't afford to lose essential services. No cuts to public safety
programs like paramedics, firefighters, and police. No cuts to flood
control and street maintenance. No cuts to recreation programs and
City facilities that benefit all of us – from kids to seniors. FACT:
Measure P would take away nearly 20% of the City's General Fund – $8.4
million of $42.3 million. The General Fund pays for essential programs like
public safety, public works, parks and recreation, and community services. FACT:
The national economic downturn has already affected City revenues, forcing
cuts of nearly $2 million, and the state is making further cuts in funds for
local government. We can't afford to lose more services. FACT:
City finances are well managed. Santa Cruz has won a prestigious accounting
award annually for over a decade. FACT:
Every penny of our utility tax goes to work right here in our community – not
Sacramento or Washington, DC. Many California cities have similar programs,
keeping local control over local services. If
Measure P passes, valuable City services could be reduced or eliminated
entirely: ·
1 of 4 firefighting companies ·
Up to 12 paramedics ·
Police foot patrols downtown and in the beach
area ·
School resource and crime prevention officers · Regular
maintenance of sports fields and neighborhood parks · Swim
classes, beach lifeguards and marine rescue · Neighborhood
traffic control · Flood
control, bridge repair, and storm drain cleaning ·
Facilities like Louden Nelson Center, Harvey West
Park, DeLaveaga Park and the Civic Auditorium Preserving these
services is essential to the future of our City. SAVE OUR CITY! VOTE NO ON MEASURE P s/ Patty Sapone, Police Officer s/ Mark Violante, Fire
Fighter s/ Lorette Wood, Retired
Business Owner, First Woman Mayor s/ Rod Quartararo, Banker,
Former Little League Coach s/ Neal Coonerty, Downtown
Business Owner |
REBUTTAL TO ARGUMENT
AGAINST MEASURE P
SAVE
OUR CITY? We agree! Here’s how: STOP
greedily taxing Santa Cruzans who struggle daily to pay their bills. Local families, students, and seniors on fixed incomes. STOP
promoting services to the freeloaders and drug-dealing transients who are
creating chaos and economic ruination in our downtown. STOP
creating jobs for cronies and reckless spending to gain political allies. STOP
discouraging revenue sources, while simply watching both businesses and jobs
flee. Here are the FACTS: FACT: Santa Cruzans are entitled to essential
police, fire, public works, and street
maintenance services. Threatening
to cut fundamental necessities is wrong! There are many other cost saving
actions and revenue enhancing measures that ought to be taken. FACT:
Monthly rates and fees for electricity, gas, telephone, garbage, cable TV,
water and sewer are high enough. We don’t need these essential services to
cost us even more. FACT: The Parks and Recreation department
consumes (22%) of all general fund moneys. This is THREE TIMES that of
comparable cities
FACT:
Most California cities, large and small, do NOT have utility
taxes. FACT: The utility tax took $775,000 in 1984, its
first year. Last year -
$8,200,000. An increase of over one
thousand percent. Is your income now
TEN TIMES what it was? VOTE YES
for Measure P.
Cancel the Council’s “blank check.” Demand that our city prioritize and spend appropriately. Other cities do without this regressive
tax. So can we. s/ Alan W.
Bailey, Proponent s/ Mike Schmidt, Former
CEO Santa Cruz Area Chamber of Commerce s/ Bob
Lissner, Teacher (Retired) s/ Steven D.
Hartman, Proponent s/ Bob Thomas, Treasurer –
Grass Roots Organization United for Progress – (GROUP) |
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