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Following up on a vow to find funding to help alleviate the housing crisis in San Mateo County, the county’s Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, July 26, will vote on whether to put a measure on the November ballot to extend an existing half-cent general sales tax for 20 more years.
The meeting starts at 9 a.m. in the supervisors’ chambers, 400 County Center in Redwood City. The vote on the sales tax measure is number 8 on the agenda.
The sales tax extension was not the funding source the supervisors had initially wanted. They had discussed putting a $500 million housing bond measure on the ballot, and the possibility of an additional sales tax.
But initial polling said the $500 million bond measure wouldn’t gain the two-thirds majority vote needed for passage. Research also showed that a new sales tax isn’t possible because the county’s sales tax rate is already the maximum allowed by the state.
A pollster hired by the county found that even a smaller bond had little chance of passage. Polling showed that the sales tax extension, by contrast, received much more support than it needed to pass.
While the sales tax is a general tax and won’t be specifically for housing, supervisors said they hoped it would give the county a stable, long-term source of funding that might be leveraged to finance housing projects.
See the board meeting agenda and staff reports on the county’s website.
See an earlier Almanac story about the sales tax measure.
See an earlier Almanac story about the county’s response to the housing crisis.
Ah, yes, the bill of goods sold as a “temporary tax” once again raises its nasty head. But why not pretend they were supposed to be temporary? The gullible taxpayers will forget that part when they are ready to expire, rather than having our Supes spend within their limits. Folks, remember this, next time they ask you to check a box in favor of the next “temporary tax”. There is no such thing as a “temporary tax”.
The SMC County Leaders misled the voters by claiming a deficit when in fact we had a surplus.
“The Board did not publicize the true condition of its finances as of the time tax Measures T, U, X, and A were voted on in 2012. ”
http://www.sanmateocourt.org/documents/grand_jury/2012/structural_deficit.pdf
“Folks, remember this, next time they ask you to check a box in favor of the next “temporary tax”. There is no such thing as a “temporary tax”.
I would respectfully suggest people remember on ELECTION DAY when they are asked to approve these taxes.
SMC Supervisors have placed a 20 year extension of the 1/2 cent sales tax Measure A which was just passed in 2012.
At that time it was expected to produce $60M per year for 10 years. It has been producing around $80M.
This time it only takes 50% plus one vote to pass.
That is the union vote alone. This will pass, there is nothing the property owners can do but pay for it