SLO County voters back tax measures

November 5, 2014

San Luis Obispo county voters are showing few signs of tax fatigue.

Voters in the cities of Atascadero, Pismo Beach and San Luis Obispo each approved half-cent sales taxes Tuesday. Two school bond measure also passed — one countywide initiative that provides funding to Cuesta College and one that applies just to the San Luis Coastal Unified School District.

The cities of San Luis Obispo and Pismo Beach both had expiring half-cent sales taxes. San Luis Obispo’s Measure G, which 70 percent of voters supported, will create a new eight-year tax, while Pismo Beach’s Measure I, which garnered 71 percent of the vote, will create a new tax with a 12-year lifespan.

Entering Tuesday’s election, Atascadero was the lone city in the county yet to implement a half-cent sales tax. But, 59 percent of Atascadero voters supported Measure F, which creates a 12-year tax.

A corresponding measure, also approved by voters Tuesday, advises Atascadero’s council to spend the tax revenue on road maintenance. The city is not legally required to do so, though.

Cuesta College’s $275 million bond measure received support from nearly 62 percent of voters. County property owners will now receive annual assessments of $19.45 per $100,000 of assessed value. Cuesta officials said they will use the money for campus repairs and upgrades.

In the San Luis Obispo, Los Osos and Morro Bay areas, 71 percent of voters backed San Luis Coastal’s $177 million bond measure. The initiative will cost property owners in the district $49 per $100,000 of assessed value, and officials say they will use the funds for campus upgrades at the area’s three high schools.

The fate of one bond measure in the county remains undecided. At the conclusion of Tuesday night’s vote count, 66.34 percent of voters supported Grover Beach’s bond measure for road repair.

However, thus far, Measure K is narrowly failing because it requires a two thirds vote to pass. If the measure were to succeed, the city would issue up to $48 million worth of bonds, which would cost property owners an estimated average $77.66 annually per $100,000 of assessed value.