Culver City voters chose a half cents sales tax as the vehicle to help the city stave off what city leaders said could be potentially catastrophic reductions in municipal services by passing Measure Y on Nov. 6 with a plurality of votes.
The sales tax ballot initiative won of the vote to 23.4 against and appeared to enjoy citywide support throughout the summer and fall months.
“I think it’s great (that Measure Y passed),” said Culver City resident Claudia Vizcarra. “It shows the commitment of our residents for maintaining critical services in our great city.”
Faced with a projected $8 million deficit, the city council voted in July to place a half-cent tax hike over 10 years on the municipal ballot.
City Manager John Nachbar said municipalities often look to a variety of revenue generating sources during difficult economic times. “It is common for cities to increase revenues during a fiscal crisis, usually after major expenditure reductions have been accomplished, like we have done,” Nachbar told the News after the meeting.
Chief Financial Officer Jeff Muir said earlier this year that Measure Y is expected to bring in approximately $8 million.
Voters around the state- including the Culver City electorate- chose to tax themselves on election night in hopes of maintaining municipal services as well as beating back what many educators and legislators said would have been devastating cuts to education.
Proposition 30 which will allocate funds to K-12 schools as well as to community colleges, passed by a 54% to 46.1 margin. School districts throughout the state, including Culver City’s, approved resolutions supporting Props. 30 and 38.
“I’m incredibly relieved that we will n be able to avoid the kind if devastating cuts that would have affected our students as well as our community as a whole,” Culver City Unified School District Board Member Laura Chardiet told the News. “This will stop the hemorrhaging for a while.”
Formally known as the Schools and Local Public Safety Protection Act, Prop. 30 was crafted by and supported by Gov. Jerry Brown. It will increase income taxes on wealthier residents earning in excess of $250,000 as well as raising the state sales tax from 7.25 to 7.50%.
The tax measure would allocate 89% of the temporary tax revenues to K-12 schools and 11% to community colleges.
If Prop. 30 had failed, state budgetary triggers would have taken away as much as $5 -$7 million from education.
Prop. 38, a competing education measure, was soundly defeated, with 72.3 % against and 27.7 in favor.
“There were enough people who paid attention and who are touched by someone who could make that connection and see how important this was to our children’s future,” Chardiet responded when asked why she thought the winning tax measure had resonated with voters.
Culver City residents had shown in the past that they are willing to tax themselves in order to benefit schools. In 2009, they overwhelmingly approved Measure EE, a parcel tax that brought $1.5 million to the school district.
