Antioch Set to Discuss Sales Tax to Restore City Services

The Antioch City Council is set to discuss a revenue ballot measure on Tuesday hat will place a one-half cent sales tax measure on the November  ballot with a 10-year sunset that is subject to annual independent audit and a Citizens Oversight Committee.

The additional revenue is needed as City’s General Fund reserves have dropped nearly $13 million since 2007—due to property tax and sales tax decreases.  In Fiscal Year 2014, Antioch is on pace to spend $3.6 more than its receiving in revenues. Next year, it’s expected to jump to $4.7 million.

Of course, the City has tried to take steps to decrease $13 million in General Fund revenue as they stated they have had a 40% staff reduction., reduced salaries and work hours (furloughs), increased employee contributions to retirement, and reduced funding.

For months, the city has bounced back the idea between a sales tax and business license tax in order to assist with city services, specifically the police department.

According to the staff report, to place a general tax measure on the ballot when there is no City Council member election, the Council must unanimously determine that there is an “emergency” requiring the tax measure be considered sooner.  It should be noted, if Antioch was to higher more police and add to its general fund deficit spending, the city would go bankrupt.

Given the survey results, the city should reject the business tax at this time and go full throttle ahead with the sales tax measure. I say this not because I am against the business tax, but rather because having competing measures on the ballot will likely result in both measures being rejected. Pass the sales tax first, then come back for the business tax during the next election.

Survey Results:

There was a strong support for a sales tax increase for 10 years at both ½ and ¾ cent. The survey in turn did not show strong support for a multiple tax measure or a targeted business tax on owners of single-family residential rental properties.

Here are a few highlights; the full survey can be viewed at http://www.ci.antioch.ca.us/CityGov/Agendas/default.asp

Do you think things in Antioch are generally going in the right direction, or do you feel that things are pretty seriously off on the wrong track? 22% said right direction while 65% said wrong direction.

What do you think is the most important problem facing Antioch today? Crime/Drugs/Violence was the runaway winner hitting 58% while second lace was “lack of police services”

Would you say that you feel safer or less safe in the City of Antioch than you did two years ago, or do you feel about the same? 64% said they felt less safe. Just 2% said they felt safer.

How would you rate the job the City of Antioch is doing in managing the City budget and finances? 38% said fair, 26% said good, 18% said fair.

If the election was held today, would you vote yes to approve or no to reject this ballot measure? 67% said they would vote yes or lean yes to approve a one-half cent tax. Meanwhile, 62% said they would vote yes or lean yes to approve a three-quarter cent sales tax. Both would sunset after 10 years.

Question 27 was interesting as 27% said they strongly agree while 15% said they somewhat agree their taxes were already high enough and would vote against any tax increase regardless of how it might be used.

Question 30: The size of Antioch police force has declined from 126 officers to 89 officers in 5 years, 9-1-1 response times have increases and crime has increased by 30 percent. This measure is desperately needed to restore our police force and improve safety in our neighborhoods. 62% said they would much more likely to vote yes after hearing those facts while 17% said they would somewhat more likely to vote yes.  5% said it made no difference.

Question 31: If this ballot measure fails, there is a chance the City of Antioch may be forced to declare bankruptcy, like the City of Stockton Did recently. 40% said they would much more likely to vote yes while 16 percent said they would somewhat more likely to vote yes. In turn, 11 percent said they would somewhat more likely to vote no while 19 percent they would much more likely vote no.

Question 33: The city budget crisis has led to nearly eliminating the entire City code enforcement department. This tax measure will allow the City to resume code inspections on foreclosed and abandoned properties and force property owners to clean up blight, like trash, weeds, and graffiti and fix dangerous conditions. 51% said they were much more likely to vote yes while 25% said they were somewhat more likely to vote yes

Question 39: If both a City sales tax measure and the measure about City business taxes for rental properties were on the ballot in Antioch this November, would you vote yes on both measures, yes on one measure, or no on both measure. (if Yes on only one) would you vote yes on the sales tax measure or on the rental tax measure:

• Yes on both – 26%
• Yes on sales tax measure only – 31%
• Yes on rental tax measure only – 12%
• No on both – 20%
• Undecided- 11%