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Four cities in San Luis Obispo County seeking sales tax hikes

October 10, 2024

By KAREN VELIE

Four of San Luis Obispo County’s seven cities are asking voters to increase their local sales tax, primarily because of increased spending on salaries while revenue has declined.

Arroyo Grande’s Measure E-24

The Arroyo Grande City Council voted in June to place a measure on the Nov. 5 ballot to increase the sales tax by 1%, which city staff estimates will result in $6 million a year in additional revenue. After discussing the need for added funding for staff salaries, aging infrastructure and road repairs, the council voted to seek public approval to raise the sales tax.

If Measure E-24 passes in November, it will raise the sales tax rate in Arroyo Grande from 7.75% to 8.75%. The city already has its own .5% sales tax rate, which is added to the statewide rate of 7.25%.

The proposed 1% sales tax increase is set to sunset in ten years.

In 2022, Arroyo Grande voters rejected a sales tax increase with 54.36% opposed and 45.64% in favor.

Atascadero’s Measure L-24

The Atascadero City Council voted in June to seek voter approval to extend a 2014 half cent sales tax set to expire in 2027. The city is now seeking an ongoing extension of the increased sales tax rate, which will continue unless residents vote to repeal it.

Staff estimates Measure L-24 will result in $3 million a year in additional revenue. The additional half cent cent sales tax accounts for approximately 9% of the city’s annual budget.

“The adoption of this measure will not increase the current sales tax but simply extend the Measure F-14 rate,” Atascadero Mayor Heather Moreno said. “Funds from the measure have significantly improved the quality of neighborhood roads in Atascadero and assisted with other vital services. Extending F-14 by adopting L-24 would enable the city to continue delivering key services for the community.”

If Measure L-24 passes in November, Atascadero’s sales tax will remain at 8.75%.

Paso Robles’ Measure I-24

With a $42 million deficit in the draft budget, Paso Robles City Council voted this summer to defer projects, cut services and pull money from reserves to balance the budget.

The Paso Robles City Council voted in June to seek voter approval to extend the 2012 half cent sales tax, which is set to expire in 2025. Staff estimates Measure I-24 will result in $5.5 million a year in additional revenue.

Mirroring Atascadero, Paso Robles is now seeking an ongoing extension of the increased sales tax rate, which will continue unless residents vote to repeal it.

If Measure I-24 passes in November, Paso Robles’ sales tax will remain at 8.75%.

Pismo Beach’s Measure F-24

The Pismo Beach City Council voted in June to place a measure on the Nov. 5 ballot to increase the sales tax by .5% and to extend a previously approved .5% sales tax measure, which city staff estimates will result in $4 million a year in additional revenue.

Ten years ago, Pismo Beach residents voted to pass Measure I-14, which continued a previously approved half-cent sales tax measure that was first approved in 2008. The sales tax was set at 7.75% for 12 years, or until March 31, 2027. It is a general tax, with revenue going to the city’s general fund for any governmental purpose.

If Measure F-24 is approved by the voters, the new sales tax rate will be 8.25%

Currently, the city receives about $2 million per year from the sales tax. Visitors pay approximately 63% of this tax, generating the bulk of the sales tax based off goods purchased or restaurants visited while they are shopping in Pismo Beach, according to staff. As a result, residents pay only 37% of the total proceeds collected.

 


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For taxpayers, the expression “I feel more abused than a borrowed mule” seems appropriate. Once again citizens must ask “can’t you in government find a teeny-weeny little bit to cut costs’? The standby site to see abuse is http://www.transparentcalifornia.com. Did you know it practically took an act of God to get that information to the public? See the abuse for yourself and decide if sales tax increases are essential or, if taxpayers are being abused like a borrow mule.


5

No, thank you. I already pay enough taxes. The govt needs to be smarter on how they are spent.


15

will They ever realize that tax increases lower their “revenue”. As an experiment, increase the sales tax rate to 50% and see what happens, businesses collapse, the government pukes lose revenue and more for Jeff Bezos. Take an economics class you government fools.


12

You’re talking about a Laffer Curve, (https://www.investopedia.com/terms/l/laffercurve.asp) youre right on the high end… a 50% sales tax is going to likely return less revenue than a 25% tax. But that mechanism isn’t linear, otherwise you’d expect a 0.01% tax to result in more revenue than a 5% tax – which obviously it doesn’t. The reality is that the ideal tax rate from the perspective of revenue is very much up for debate.


Seeing as we are discussing ~7% to ~8%, and that there are loads of case studies throughout California that indicate that revenues rise when the rate is 9-10%, I don’t think revenue is going to drop of these measures pass. Perhaps more to common sense – these greedy crooked scum of the earth politicians and civil servants would really push for something that loses the government money?


0

i no longer spend a penny downtown with parking rates higher than Manhattan and human piss and feces all over the sidewalks. Tell the businesses that have closed that raising taxes on their customers is effective.


1

“human piss and feces all over the sidewalks. ” Bullshit.


Lets not make ridiculous exaggerations and “alternative facts” the new norm.


-1

take a 7 am walk down higuera st and report back. It’s disgusting


2

I have lived here for decades, you are greatly underestimating the amount of stupid things young adults do when living away from the family home for the first time.


How many gallons of alcohol gets served every day, it’s the life blood of downtown, add youth, hormones, chemicals and see what you get.


The homeless are not blameless, but you can blame them for everything if that’s what you are into.


-5

Ìt is an absolute crock!! All these cities can point to other cities and show how their taxes are lower–SO WHAT!!! It’s not a race to oblivion!

All it takes is someone to find the right soundbyte “tourist pay over 60%” True true, but I now also have to pay MORE! I honestly wonder when we are going to begin thinking again and stop being led by the self serving public servants.


38

It must be nice to forcibly confiscate peoples hard earned money and call it “revenue”.


17

“…asking voters to increase their local sales tax, primarily because of increased spending on salaries…”

Did it ever occur to anyone in city government to consolidate duties to let other people go? Or forego raises for them? If they don’t like it, they can leave! There are plenty of capable managers who would love to have the benefits of a government job. I am not impressed by the quality of many city managers, who seem to go from one city/county to another in an endless cycle and don’t understand basic concepts, like budgeting.


34

Only a moron votes for any tax increase.


44

A government employee votes for them, if they pass it means they get increased compensation.


28

Only a moron votes for felons, criminals and people who don’t pay their taxes.


-24

The three time GOP candidate for president? Or we give just him a pass?


-32

What does the Biden administration have to do with local sales tax increases?


13

Only morons will vote for a Marxist and a Communist to be Pres/VP kettle. See what that will get you friend. Eventually.

Look back at some historical figures such as Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, Mao, Hugo Chavez, et al.


10

I’m dying to know, who are the Marxists and communists rampant in American politics, and what makes them so?

What is the straight line between a tiny sales tax increase and… Khmer Rogue genocide…

Perhaps I’m not in on the joke.


-3

“See what that will get you friend. Eventually.”


Lol, go watch the last 3 trump campaign stops, watch the speech in full, I dare you.


There are no Marxist and a Communist’s running for major offices no matter how many times red panic memes float around.


Dude lumping Chavez with pol pot, that’s low and weird. Hey are you the guy posting about Marxist everywhere on Craig’s list? That’s some dedication to the whatever.


-1

Go to Transparent California.com. Look at the salaries. Fire captains making 3-400,000 a year. Health administrators at 500,000 a year. Retirement at age 50 at close to 90 percent of salary. 100’s of county and city officials making over 125k a year (and we pay the bulk of their retirement). Vote no…curtail the madness


70

Being a manager of dozens/hundreds of people is a hard and important job public or private sector. Doesn’t that work justify +100k salaries, if the answer is “yes” then where is the systemic madness (I’ll acknowledge 500k is a lot, but very rare)? If the answer is “no” then it’ll be close to impossible to retain any talent in the public sector. If the answer is specifically the current civil service, then the answer has to be an *increase* in salaries to get the best managers in the private sector to consider government work.


We get what we pay for, i’d rather pay more for a well run and efficient government than a little less for incompetents.


-44

500k isn’t that rare , Pismo’s new city manager is right there.


16

1. The Pismo Beach in 2023 made $375,494.13, including benefits (which isn’t an actualized cost in the current budget, $242,887.00 is more fair… But whatever)

2. By definition 500k is outrageously rare. Compensation over 500k for the entire state of CA according to the website above stops on page Page 9 of 60,547 … So 0.015%… roughly.


-19

“Well run and efficient government.” That statement is as sad as it is hilarious.


33

And you prefer a poorly run, inefficient government? Government employees are not volunteers – if we want good people filling positions, they have to be paid well otherwise they’ll quit for better wages elsewhere and we’ll be left with the incompetents and the flat out corrupt. A city manager (for example) is essentially the CEO of a firm with a couple hundred employees and a 50-100 million dollar budget, in the private sector that CEO would be making millions per year, it’s not unreasonable that a city manager makes 200k per year.


-30

Poorly run inefficient government is the only kind there is .


4

Obscene sales taxes are enabling increasing amounts of mismanagment by incompetent disinformation bureaucrats.


56