The Measure T initiative to increase Hollister’s sales tax from 7.25 percent to 8.25 percent is on the November ballot. With uncertainty about the voters’ feel on this follow-up to Measure R, a similar tax hike that failed last year, The Free Lance examined both sides of the argument.
Con: Sales Tax Hike is Excessive
Hollister – Marty Richman isn’t running a campaign, but you’d be excused for thinking otherwise.
Richman has been writing letters and guest opinions for the Free lance attacking the sales tax initiative Measure T, and although he isn’t walking door-to-door or doing any phone banking, he said he still gets stopped on the street and has to explain his position to passersby.
The Hollister resident is no stranger to city politics. He makes regular appearances at City Council meetings to decry government spending and regulation, but he emphasized Friday that he’s not an “anti-tax zealot,” and he noted that he didn’t take a position on Measure R, a similar initiative defeated in 2006. Richman said he’s only opposed to Measure T because he has listened to the arguments, done some research and decided that it’s a bad, bad idea.
“The proposed tax hike is too large and it lasts too long,” he said. “The majority of funds will not be spent on public safety.”
City staff have estimated that the tax increase would raise between $3.5 million and $4 million per year, adding up to a maximum of $20 million over five years.
“They will not spend $20 million on public safety personnel,” Richman said.
Instead, he argued, much of the money will go to raises, employee benefits and council members’ “pet projects.”
“The problem in the City Council is that no one has taken a pledge to hold the line,” he said.
Richman isn’t alone in his opposition. After all, 52 percent of ballots were cast against the sales tax in 2006. And although the San Benito County Republican Central Committee hasn’t taken a position on the measure, its chairman Marvin Jones has been putting up homemade No-on-T signs.
Like Richman, Jones thinks sales tax advocates’ emphasis on public safety is misleading. He noted that that even after this year’s cuts, Police Chief Jeff Miller complained that he couldn’t fill four positions that were included in the reduced budget.
“To say they need an increase in the sales tax to get more policemen is false,” Jones said.
He argued that the City Council needs to act like a normal citizen, spending no more than what it makes.
Richman isn’t going that far. He said a 0.5 percent, three-year sales tax increase will bolster the police and fire departments just fine, and that the higher tax is excessive.
Neither Jones nor Richman said they’re actively campaigning against the measure, but they’re happy to share their opinions with anyone who’s interested. Asked if he’s uncomfortable becoming an unofficial No-on-T spokesman, Richman said: “No, that’s fine. Maybe that means I make a good argument.”
Pro: Tax Jump an Investment
Hollister – When the sales tax initiative Measure R failed in 2006, David Huboi took it personally.
“Not that I was bitter at the community, but in terms of my own performance,” said Huboi, a local architect and planning commissioner who chaired the Yes-on-R campaign. “I started wondering if there was anything that I could have done better.”
City Councilman Doug Emerson had regrets, too. He had spent many of the preceding months campaigning against developer Del Webb’s Measure S, and he “felt guilty” about not doing more for the tax initiative.
“Frankly, I was surprised that R lost,” Emerson said.
But Huboi and Emerson are getting a second chance. On Nov. 7, Hollister voters will consider a virtually identically initiative, Measure T, and both men are doing their best to make sure this election turns out differently.
For Emerson, who serves as a campaign spokesman, the Yes-on-T argument comes down to simple dollars and cents. The city has been operating with a structural deficit for six years, he said, and there’s only $2.7 million left in the reserves. As revenue has fallen, the city has been cutting expenses, including substantial service reductions after the failure of Measure R.
“It’s not like we went out and spent the money on something big,” Emerson said.
So the City Council was faced with a choice: Cut services even more or attempt to raise funds, he said. A sales tax hike made the most sense, he said, because sales tax makes up roughly one-third of general fund revenues.
Some locals have complained that the measure gives the council too much leeway about where the money will be spent. Specific financial commitments would be illegal, Emerson pointed out, but as a councilman he pledged that public safety would be his top priority. Only after the police and fire departments are restored to their prior levels of funding will Emerson consider other spending.
“(Public safety) is the foundation,” he said. “When you build a house, you build the foundation first.”
Businesses are on board, too, Huboi said, as shown by the endorsement of the San Benito County Chamber of Commerce, the Hollister Downtown Association, the San Benito County Business Council and the San Benito County Association of Realtors.
“This is an investment,” he said. “It’s promoting your business.”
Emerson said the increase will be good for the economy, because it will improve services and infrastructure without driving customers away. After all, many locals already do most of their shopping outside the county, where the sales tax is substantially higher.
“I can’t see (consumers) making decisions based on the sales tax,” Emerson said. “Many of them don’t even know what the sales tax is.”
As the election approaches – absentee ballots will start going out Monday – both Emerson and Huboi said they’re hopeful that things will go their way.
“I found it comforting that we could get another try at this,” Huboi said. “Now I can feel the momentum building.”
