In the final push before , supporters and opponents of local and statewide ballot measures are in full campaign mode as they sprint toward the electoral finish line next week.
While the passage or defeat of several of the statewide initiatives will no doubt have an impact on Culver City residents, for many the main focus will be squarely on the local sales tax measure that will raise the levy a half-cent if the voters approve it.
City leaders have repeatedly pressed their case to the public on the urgency of passing the ballot initiative known as Measure Y. They say the tax proposal will raise approximately $6 million and will help prevent reductions or elimination of certain city programs and a decrease in municipal services.
City Attorney Carol Schwab wrote in the city’s impartial analysis of Measure Y that the tax would expire in 10 years if it is approved. “The temporary one half cent tax would be effective April, 2013 and would automatically expire after (10) years in 2023, unless extended by the voters in a subsequent election,” she wrote.
Jewett Walker, a Culver City political consultant, understands the rational behind Measure Y and acknowledged that many cities throughout California and elsewhere are looking at local tax measures as an avenue to raise funds during a time of economic uncertainty.
But he takes issue with the length of the tax.
“That’s too long,” said Walker, who has represented many clients locally and has worked on statewide ballot initiatives. “A tax for 10 years is beyond unreasonable and unconscionable.”
According to the city’s website, since 2008 Culver City has lost $4.5 million in state funding, an additional $6 million in local revenue due to the economy and housing markets, and $40 million annually through Sacramento’s elimination of local redevelopment agencies last year.
The city’s current tax rate is 8.75% and would be pushed to 9.25% if Measure Y is successful.
Walker said while Culver City residents who shop locally will be affected by the measure if it is approved, consumers who come into the “Heart of Screenland” to dine and shop will offset much of the nee tax burden on locals. “Those who will pay the bulk of the tax will be coming from outside the city,” he noted.
Scott Zeidman, who supports the local tax measure, made the same point in an interview with the News last month. During his tenure as the president of Board of Education of the Culver City Unified School District, Zeidman was the driving force behind Measure EE, a 2009 parcel tax measure that is slated to bring in $1.2 million to the school district’s coffers. It passed overwhelmingly.
“Measure EE proved that if we do a local tax, it stays local,” Zeidman said.
That is one of Measure Y’s biggest selling points and it seems to have some resonance as there has been strong public support and scant resistance to the proposed ballot initiative.
Walker said the same time frame to sunset that is placed on Measure EE should apply to Measure Y. “If five years is good enough for a parcel tax why isn’t it good enough for a sales tax” he asked.
Two statewide tax measures on the ballot have the potential impact the future of public schools throughout California.
Propositions 30 and 38 both seek to generate funds for the state’s schools by raising the state sales tax from 7.5 to 7.25 %.
Prop. 30 would also imposing higher income taxes on California’s most wealthy citizens.
While both proposals have the goal of producing revenue for school districts, how they would allocate these new funds differs.
Prop. 30 would designate 89% of the temporary tax revenues to K-12 schools and 11% to community colleges while Prop. 38 would send 60% of the newly generated funds to K-12 schools, 10% to early childhood programs and 30% toward paying down California’s debt.
On Sept. 11, the Culver City Unified School District approved a resolution supporting both tax measures.
Opponents of the ballot measures have decried them as unnecessary taxes on a state that they say is already overtaxed.
“Prop. 30 will drastically increase taxes and give the money to politicians and special interests to spend as they please,” states a link to Prop. 30 on the website of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, the state’s leading anti-tax organization.
“Prop 30 is a flawed initiative that raises on all Californians as much as $50 billion over the next seven years, doesn’t guarantee any new funding for schools, destroys small business, kills jobs and includes no reform.”
CCUSD board member Patricia Siever said the consequences of not passing Prop. 30 could force the local school district to consider changes that they might not under normal circumstances.
“Prop. 30 is especially very important because if it doesn’t pass, we’ll have to do things differently than we’ve done before,” Siever said. “We might have to consider furlough days, perhaps shorter school days and draw down on our reserves, which we don’t want to do.”
Walker pointed out that Prop. 38 would not fund community colleges while Prop. 30 would and he thinks that should not be lost on the electorate, including Culver City residents, some who attended nearby West Los Angeles College, where Siever is a professor.
“Any proposition that cuts out community colleges is unacceptable,” asserted Walker, who represented Siever in her 2009 school board election. “I’m a firm believer that the general fund needs money but I’m also a firm believer that that community colleges needs money.”
Loyola Marymount University professor Fernando Guerra thinks that if the election had been held two weeks ago both measures would likely have triumphed. “But right now the way that they are trending does not bode well for one of them,” said Guerra, who is known nationally as an elections expert.
The reason that one of them could be in jeopardy is since they essentially strive to do the same thing, only one can be enacted. “The one that gets the most votes will be implemented,” Guerra explained.
Siever says she realizes that many people may feel that there are too many tax measures on this year’s ballot, but without funding from Prop. 30 the consequences will be dire.
“I understand that people feel overtaxed, but this is about our future,” she said.
Election day is Tuesday, Nov. 6.
