A divided San Luis Obispo City Council on Tuesday directed city staff to draft a ballot measure to renew a half-percent sales tax, but the council could have a difficult time getting the measure on the November ballot.
The decision was 3-2, with Councilman Dan Carpenter and Councilwoman Kathy Smith casting the dissenting votes.
The ballot language will return for City Council approval in July. In order to put it on the ballot, four council members must vote to do so.
The ballot measure would seek to extend an existing half-percent sales tax that city voters approved in 2006 with Measure Y. That tax is due to expire in March 2015. If voters approve an extension, sales tax in San Luis Obispo would remain at 8 percent.
Carpenter said he will not support the measure, which he said amounts to a sales tax increase because the half-percent tax is due to expire. Smith said she would vote only for a special-purpose tax that dedicates all of the money to capital improvement projects.
“If I had more faith and trust in the leadership and transparency of the dollars, I could support it,” Smith said. “Absent of that, I would support putting a half-cent special-purpose tax on the ballot that was 100 percent aimed at capital improvement projects.”
Mayor Jan Marx, who called Carpenter and Smith obstructionists, encouraged the public to start a voter initiative to get a sales tax measure on the ballot should the council fail to do so.
In March, the city’s Local Revenue Measure Advisory Committee concluded that a measure to renew San Luis Obispo’s half-cent-per-dollar sales tax should be put on the November ballot. The committee also recommended the measure extend the tax for eight years and retain it as a general-purpose tax.
The committee recommended against a special-purpose tax that designates how funds can be spent and requires a two-thirds voter approval. A general-purpose tax only needs a majority approval to pass.
From The Tribune 04/01/2014
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