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Shall the City of Capitola adopt an ordinance amending Section 3.32.030 of the Municipal Code raising the transient occupancy tax rate from 9.5% to 11%, dedicating the revenues from .5% of the 1.5% differential increase to the General Fund and 1% of the 1.5% differential increase to the Santa Cruz County Conference and Visitors Council for the promotion of tourism in Santa Cruz County? |
IMPARTIAL ANALYSIS BY CITY ATTORNEY
MEASURE W This ballot measure, if adopted by City
voters, would amend the Capitola Municipal Code by raising the transient
occupancy tax rate from the current rate of 9.5 percent to 11 percent. The transient occupancy tax (also referred
to as the “Visitor Services Fee”) is a tax paid by hotel and motel guests who
spend fewer than 30 consecutive days in a hotel or motel in the City. The tax is on the room rent paid. For example, a hotel guest currently pays
$9.50 tax per night on a $100.00 hotel room.
If the ballot measure is adopted in its entirety, the hotel guest
would pay $11.00 tax per night on a $100.00 hotel room. The ballot measure would require the City
to dedicate the tax revenue received by the City as a result of one percent
of the tax rate increase to a special “Conference and Visitors Promotion
Fund” account. All tax revenue deposited in the Conference and Visitors
Promotion Fund account would be used exclusively for the promotion of tourism
in the County of Santa Cruz. In
addition, the ballot measure would require the City to annually contract with
the Santa Cruz County Conference and Visitors Council and the money deposited
in the Conference and Visitors Promotion Fund would be disbursed periodically
to the Santa Cruz County Conference and Visitors Council for its use in
promoting tourism within the County. The ballot measure would also require
the Santa Cruz County Conference and Visitors Council, as a condition to
receiving this funding from the City, to submit an annual accounting
demonstrating that the funds provided by the City have been used for their
intended purpose. Because this one
percent portion of the proposed transient occupancy tax rate increase would
be imposed for a specific purpose, this portion of the ballot measure
proposes a special tax as defined by Article XIIIC of the California
Constitution. Accordingly, for the special
tax to be adopted, the ballot measure would need to receive a two-thirds
“yes” vote. The tax revenue received by the City as a
result of the remaining .5 percent of the tax rate increase would be
deposited in the City’s General Fund. Currently 100 percent of transient
occupancy tax revenues, computed at the rate of 9.5 percent, are dedicated to
the City’s General Fund. If adopted,
the General Fund transient occupancy tax rate would therefore increase from
9.5 percent to 10 percent. Because
this .5 percent portion of the proposed transient occupancy tax rate increase
would be imposed for general governmental purposes, this portion of the
ballot measure proposes a “general tax” as defined by Article XIIIC of the
California Constitution. Accordingly,
for the general tax to be adopted, the ballot measure would need to receive a
simple majority vote. If the ballot measure received a majority vote but
failed to receive a two-thirds vote, only the general tax would go into
effect and the overall tax rate would be 10 percent rather than 11 percent. s/ John G. Barisone, City Attorney |
FULL
TEXT OF BALLOT MEASURE W
AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF CAPITOLA AMENDING SECTION 3.32.030 OF THE CAPITOLA MUNICIPAL CODE PERTAINING TO THE
CITY OF CAPITOLA
VISITOR SERVICES FEE BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY OF CAPITOLA AS
FOLLOWS: Section 1. Section 3.32.030 of the Capitola Municipal
Code is hereby amended to read as follows: Section 3.32.030 Tax
Imposed. (a)
For
the privilege of occupancy in any hotel, each transient is subject to and shall
pay a general tax in an amount of ten percent of the rent charged by the
operator. The tax constitutes a debt
owed by the transient to the City which is extinguished only by payment by
the operator to the City. The
transient shall pay the tax to the operator of the hotel at the time the rent
is paid. If the rent is paid in
installments, a proportionate share of the tax shall be paid with each
installment. The unpaid tax shall be
due upon the transient’s ceasing to occupy space in the hotel. If for any reason the tax is not paid to
the operator of the hotel, the Fee Administrator may require that such tax
shall be paid directly to the Fee Administrator. The general tax revenues shall be placed in the City’s general
fund (b)
For the privilege of
occupancy in any hotel, each transient is subject to and shall pay a special
tax of one percent of the rent charged by the operator on the same terms and
conditions set forth in subsection (a).
The special tax revenues shall be placed in a segregated “Conference and
Visitors Promotion Fund” account. (c)
All tax revenue
deposited in the Conference and Visitors Promotion Fund shall be used
exclusively for the promotion of tourism in the County of Santa Cruz and for
no other purpose. In order to achieve
this objective, the City shall annually contract with the Santa Cruz County
Conference and Visitors Council, a non-profit corporation doing business in
the City of Capitola and County of Santa Cruz established for the purpose of
promoting tourism within the City and County, provided that the Santa Cruz
County Conference and Visitors Council continues to satisfactorily promote
tourism in the City and County and otherwise complies with all applicable
laws pertaining to the operation and governance of non-profit corporations. The City shall require the Santa Cruz
County Conference and Visitors Council to submit an annual accounting for the
use of funds provided pursuant to this section. The annual accounting, at a minimum, shall set forth with
particularity and in accordance with generally accepted accounting standards
the amount and nature of all expenditures made with Conference and Visitor
Promotion Fund moneys. The Santa Cruz
County Conference and Visitors Council shall make all of its books, records,
and accounts which in any manner relate to the expenditure of Conference and
Visitors Promotion Fund moneys available to the City’s finance Director for
examination or audit upon reasonable notice. Section 2. This ordinance shall be
considered as adopted upon the date that the vote is declared by the City
Council, and shall go into effect 10 days after that date. |
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44-524
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 W Measure W requires tourists
to pay for the services they receive while visiting our community and ensures
that your tax dollars are not used to fund the Santa Cruz County Conference
and Visitors Council. Over the next ten years,
measure W will make nearly $300,000 available for vital city services while
creating accountability and safeguards on how your tax dollars are spent. Specifically Measure W
will: ·
Help streamline the city’s
budget. Measure W will make available nearly
$30,000 every year for services such as senior care or fire department
paramedic response. And additional money will also be generated for local
programs through sales taxes paid by tourists. ·
Create accountability. Measure W ensures
account-ability and safeguards on how tax money will be spent. Measure W requires an independent audit,
conducted annually, to ensure that tax dollars are used as specified in the
measure. ·
Be paid for by tourists. Measure W requires hotel and motel guests to pay an additional
1.5% on their room rates. Capitola
residents living in their homes will not have their taxes affected in any way
by this measure. ·
Protect local businesses
and create jobs. Capitola is feeling the
effects of California’s slumping economy.
Measure W will help small businesses prosper, making more jobs
available for local residents On November 5th,
please join local businesses, senior citizens, working families and elected
officials in supporting Measure W. It
will free up money for essential city services every year while creating
responsibility and accountability on how tax dollars are spent. s/ Gayle Ortiz, Owner, Gayle’s Bakery s/ Doug Piggott, Mobile Home Resident Spokesman s/ Rebecca Nelson, Senior Marketing Manager, Capitola Mall s/ Sam Farr, Member of Congress, 17th
District s/ Merry L. Crowen,
Sec/Treasurer, Santa Cruz Co. Lodging Assn. |
Rebuttal to argument in favor of Measure W It is unbelievable that the proponents of this
special interest tax say it will benefit Capitola’s budget. Let’s face it.
The county conference and visitors group stands to pick up a tax windfall,
big time. Whose tax money is it? Capitola’s! In
June, Capitola’s city council passed its 2002/03 budget. After carefully
reviewing all of Capitola’s needs in open public hearings, the council
members allocated $5300 of your tax monies to this tourism lobby group. If
this new tax is passed, this group stands to automatically pick up $47,400
from Capitola’s budget not only this year, but every year. They
will spend two thirds of this tax on TV, radio, newspapers and travel
magazine advertising to promote tourism. This means more people, more
traffic. Capitola will have to find money for road repairs and additional
parking. Where will it come from? Not from this tax. It might even mean
reducing services to our residents. The
tourism board of directors is accountable only to a few special interests.
Neither the public, nor the City Council, will have any say in how they spend
the money. This tax is not in the public’s interests. Now ask yourselves.
Whose budget is benefited by this tax? Not Capitola’s. Vote NO! s/ Tony Gualtieri, City
Council Member s/ Bob Begun, City Treasurer |
44-525
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
Against Measure W This
tax increase will be used to bring more visitors to Capitola without
providing enough money to deal with the increased traffic. Is this what we need? The
beach will be more crowded, more littered.
The Village and Esplanade will be in total gridlock. We will need more public works cleanup,
more police presence, more parking.
How are we going to pay for this? A tax increase is supposed to improve our quality
of life. This tax doesn’t. It puts a
strain on our city. Conditions will
worsen year after year, because this tax cannot be rescinded easily. The group that gets this money will be
given this money forever. And its
directors are not accountable to the public, the way elected officials
are. The City Council will have no
discretion to use this tax money in any other way. This is a bad tax for Capitola. Vote NO. s/ Tony Gualtieri, City
Council Member s/ Bob Begun, City Treasurer |
REBUTTAL TO
ARGUMENT AGAINST MEASURE W Opponents of Measure W are
wrong. ·
Measure
W not only requires a comprehensive
independent audit of where money is spent, but the agency’s board of
directors includes public officials that are accountable to voters for their
actions. Capitola’s new fair share
contribution will trigger our own elected official oversight. ·
Measure
W will help local businesses create
and retain jobs for residents by bringing more overnight visitors to our
community in non-summer months. ·
Measure
W makes available to Capitola $300,000
over the next ten years for vital city services. This discretionary money
can be used to alleviate traffic congestion, increase services for senior citizens
or provide additional parking. Join with Capitola’s mayor,
seniors, locals, business owners and their employees and vote YES on measure
W. s/ Ellen Pirie, Santa Cruz
County Board of Supervisors s/ Gayle Ortiz, Mayor s/ Ted Burke, Owner,
Shadowbrook Restaurant s/ Dan Haifley,
Environmental Educator s/ Michael Scanlon, President, Santa Cruz Area
Restaurant Assn. |
44-526