There’s a message that residents otherwise hesitant to support a
sales tax hike would be hard-pressed to ignore, and organizers of a
new push to increase the levy should embrace it.
There’s a message that residents otherwise hesitant to support a sales tax hike would be hard-pressed to ignore, and organizers of a new push to increase the levy should embrace it.
That’s because the recent string of violent crime – and a coinciding staffing shortage at the Hollister Police Department – is a real, living crisis that puts the city at a critical juncture from which we can only slump further as our level of public safety declines.
No other practical solution exists to the city’s staffing shortages – nor will one for several years to come as Hollister struggles to pick itself up from a sewer spill-induced downturn – than to raise the sales tax.
It’s not a question anymore of whether officials failed to wade the city through a dynamic, complicated time of rapid growth and a concurring lack of foresight to invest in Hollister’s infrastructure to ensure we didn’t get to where we are now.
Our former leaders did, indeed, fail us, and we’re paying a dear price. But it’s time to move on and consider, as difficult as it may be, that a short-term investment from taxpayers is the only logical way to leap out of this economic cesspool and rejuvenate a city workforce treading below its surface.
Under most circumstances, it would be difficult to argue for paying more to the government in a city where the sales tax is already 7 percent.
Do citizens here pay high enough taxes already? Yes.
Would such a levy hike further hamper residents’ willingness and ability to spend their discretionary income at local businesses? Yes.
Would it potentially hurt those businesses in the short term and potentially place another dent in the local economy? Yes.
Consider, however, what has occurred in Hollister in 2007 after the city slashed its workforce over recent years and left the police department with 29 sworn officers and two detectives:
– Three homicides, including that of a woman whose body was dropped on a residential street a week ago
– Two gang-related attempted murders
– Five gang-related drive-by shootings
Is it worth the risk to the city’s long-term livelihood, worth the risk to homeowners who could see steep declines in property values in the long run, worth the risk to a local economy that would lose its draw to new businesses while ultimately damaging existing ones, to allow our level of public safety and other city services to stagnate at such a pathetic level for years to come?
The answer is clearly no, and the most stunning evidence in favor of a 1 percent hike to the sales tax – in favor of a much-needed investment – is on our degrading city streets.
