Home Antioch Antioch Shares Estimated Revenue From Sales Tax Options

Antioch Shares Estimated Revenue From Sales Tax Options

by ECT

Although the City of Antioch will be sending out a survey at some point in the near future, I wanted to share with you the three slide Power Point presentation to highlight just what the City Council is looking at in its decision on how to tax and how much to tax its residents.

Ultimately, it will be up to the residents to decide, but rather than simply telling, I wanted to show. The slides below provide a nice breakdown of what each tax level will generate and how they can assist with public safety.

To get back to it’s pre-recession level of 126 sworn officers, along with a full complement of non-sworn officers and additional costs for vehicles and safety equipment, a revenue enhancement $7 million is needed.

The council has stated it prefers 144 sworn officers, but that would require $11.8 million.

Her is a look at the slides:

Antioch Sales Tax 1

Antioch Sales Tax 2

Antioch Sales Tax 3

Friday Morning Breakfast ClubTax Rental Owners

Former Mayor Donald Freitas told the council he is working with the Friday Morning Breakfast Club at crafting a ballot measure that would tax landlords and provide revenue–this proposal is somewhere between $200-300 per rental home.

The rough math on this in a best case scenario would generate under $3 million, still far short of even providing funding for the 126-officers which needs $7 million.  A nearly $4 million gap is still there.

You then could get in a situation where rental property owners decide they don’t want to pay the tax, they then sell the homes and Antioch then has less rental property’s to tax. Now you are back where you started needing revenue.

Still, some sort of hybrid should be used, but not soley focus on rental property. This is why a tax on gross receipts should be the play, not focus only on rental owners only.

Survey Costs

The survey that will be sent out soon will cost the city around $20,000.  The council has basically stated they are not in favor of a parcel tax option and are looking at a simple majority vote.

Change the Rhetoric

As the city moves closer to finalizing it’s tax, its time to move away from calling it a “police tax” and find a more positive way of selling this to the public. This isn’t about hiring officers, its about reducing crime and improving safety which then improves economic development followed by more programs for youths to keep them out of trouble. Its a domino effect and the rhetoric needs to start being spun more positively.

We have seen with fire that residents simply refer to it as “the fire tax” and this one has already been called the “police tax”–that is code word for spending more money which means you have already lost the battle.

Hopefully tonight, the council picks a name and sticks with it so they have many months to brand this tax to be more positive for the people of Antioch.

On a side note, kudos go out to City Clerk Arne Simonsen for providing me with the Power Point in a timely manner.

 Sources:
http://www.contracostatimes.com/east-county-times/ci_22880031/survey-says-antioch-residents-be-asked-about-potential

http://www.contracostatimes.com/east-county-times/ci_22886464/special-meeting-antioch-thursday-discuss-economic-development-tax

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4 comments

Jill Thompson 55 Mar 28, 2013 - 9:53 am

Until rental owners are taxed, no sales tax should be collected period for police! Only then can you decide how much revenue is needed from sales tax. The council gets an “F” for how they have handled this process of deciding on a tax.

JimSimmons42 Mar 28, 2013 - 10:46 am

Voting yes to any sales tax, we need officers. The rest will take care of itself over time when crime is reduced

Julio-Antioch Mar 28, 2013 - 12:28 pm

Right now the landlords are SUPPOSED to pay a percentage of their gross BUT it has not been collected by the city in a good number of years. WHY NOT? With 1/3 of the houses/apartments as rentals this is a chunk of change. Both will have to pass with a 50%+1 with the sales tax at a lower rate or it simply will not pass.

We would still have officers if this city had not handled everything so willy-nilly and with some thought. They just ran through the streets with no plan.

Rental Property Tax Doesn’t Solve Antioch’s Crime Problems | East County Today Apr 5, 2013 - 10:11 am

[…] the fun part using Antioch Police Chief Allan Cantando’s figures, to get from 90-officers to 126-officers, the staff cost are estimated at an increase of $6.8 […]

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