A road improvement measure and business license tax appear to have been narrowly approved by voters on Nov.6.
Measure G was the San Benito County Roads, Transportation Safety and Investment Plan Transactions and Use Tax, or the tax that will go to widening Highway 25.
Measure G, which need 66.67 percent to pass received 67.88% of votes before provisional ballots and late vote-by-mail ballots had been calculated. Measure H, which needed 51 percent to pass, received 51.39 percent.
The measure was largely supported by county officials, who worried about the fate of San Benito roads if the tax wasn’t passed. Although there was no formal argument written against the measure, the two-thirds vote is difficult to achieve.
The passage enacts, “a one-cent sales tax, raising approximately $16,000,000 annually over 30 years,” according to the ballot question.
Measure H is a business license tax ordinance for unincorporated parts of the county. Its passage means an increase in government services like law enforcement, fire service and road maintenance.
The ballot question asked voters, “shall the proposed business license tax ordinance be adopted and enacted to impose a business license tax at a rate of $30 to $118 per business, $.66 to $7.80 per employee, and $.10 per ton of minerals depleted.”
Although it only needed a 51 percent yes vote to pass and only applies to unincorporated areas, the measure came very close to failing. With late vote-by-mail ballots and provisional ballots still to be counted, the fate of the measure remains somewhat undetermined.
