San Carlos Measure G: Yes or No?

This November 3rd, San Carlos voters will be asked to approve a 1/2 cent city-wide retail sales tax to raise $6,000,000 over 14 years that will “generate an estimated $6 million dollars annually for 14 years to provide local funding for general use,” according to the City of San Carlos website. 

The vote requires a simple majority to pass.

According to the Yes on G Facebook Page, this retail sales tax increase is needed because San Carlos “faces a $3 million budget shortfall while the cost of public safety, street and sidewalk repair, park and infrastructure maintenance goes up”.

The funds are needed for the following long-term improvements to the City:

• Keep existing parks and community facilities safe, clean, and well-maintained, and add future parks and facilities.
• Fix potholes and maintain City streets.
• Upgrade fire protection, police, and paramedic services to continue rapid 911 emergency response.
• Repair aging infrastructure including storm drains, sewers, sidewalks, curbs, and public facilities.
• Make downtown San Carlos pedestrian-friendly with redesigned streets, wider sidewalks, and connected public plazas.

In addition, San Carlos faces $200 million in deferred maintenance and needed improvements to its aging infrastructure, according to the Yes on G website.

The taxation period would run for 14 years and temporarily raise the sales tax rate in San Carlos to 9.875%, but purchases such as groceries, prescription medicine, diapers, and feminine hygiene products will be exempt from the sales tax. 

Numerous of the aforementioned improvements are obviously needed in San Carlos. If you happen to have an affinity for potholes, just drive down Laurel Street south of Brittan Avenue — I've been on country roads that are smoother than this. And it's hard to argue that infrastructure like sewers and storm drains don't need constant maintenance and repair.

However, some of the items on the City's wish list could be categorized as “nice-to-haves” and not “must-haves”. I wouldn't necessarily consider “adding future parks and facilities” a critical need when the funds are basic infrastructure maintenance do not appear to be available.

A Referendum on Accountability?

With any sales tax initiative or parcel tax bond measure that is put to a public vote, there is likely to be resistance from a segment of the voting public. Some people are simply against the concept of constantly increasing taxation, whether it's income tax, wealth tax, or, in this case, sales tax.

In other situations, people will oppose an increase in taxation because of the financial impact on them. In reality, the hit to the pocketbook for Measure G is not significant. If you spend $500 on taxable goods each month, like most of us do, that equates to an extra $2.50 — not even enough for a cup of coffee downtown.

I believe the strongest opposition to Measure G will arise from the principle of the measure, not the financial impact. Residents will want accountability for the decisions that were made that led to the budget shortfall in the first place, as well as better transparency about where these funds will be spent in the future — rather than just blindly throwing even more taxpayer funds into a system that appears to be broken.

For example, one may be puzzled why a city that is facing a such a significant budget shortfall could justify spending $6,000,000 of taxpayer money to renovate a rarely-used downtown park, rather than addressing the critical improvements in infrastructure that it outlined on its own website. Perhaps the funds for the Harrington Park project come from another bucket or a grant that needs to be spent? I couldn't tell you — it's interesting that in the FAQ section for this project, there's zero mention of how the project is being funded, which would be FAQ #1 in my book.

But it's abundantly clear where the Blue Man and the memorial bricks are going to be located.

It's those kinds of decisions that raise suspicion and damage the credibility of our policymakers, which then makes residents leery about signing on for yet another tax increase.

What's Your Vote?

Let's open this up for discussion! How are you going to vote on Measure G in November? Register your vote in the poll below, and feel free to voice your opinion in the comments section.

It wil be very interesting to see where the line in the sand is drawn by the residents of San Carlos on this measure.