Sales tax goes from 7.25 percent to 8.25 percent
Customers will start paying an extra one percent sales tax April
1, due to a sales tax increase approved by voters in Nov. 2007.
Sales tax goes from 7.25 percent to 8.25 percent
Customers will start paying an extra one percent sales tax April 1, due to a sales tax increase approved by voters in Nov. 2007.
The increase from 7.25 percent to 8.25 percent was projected to generate between $3.5 and $4 million annually, but those projections will be reduced, said Clint Quilter, Hollister’s city manager. Measure T was passed on Nov. 6, 2007 by 66 percent of voters. Hollister officials said that the tax increase would restore and improve city services.
“Take a look at the economy,” Quilter said. “Everything’s different.
City staff are currently working on new projections for how much Measure T is expected to generate, Quilter said.
A detailed plan for how to spend Measure T money is taking longer than expected due to recent changes in the economy, Quilter said.
A recommendation will appear on the city council’s agenda April 7, Quilter said. The plan would include the number of individual positions that would be hired, Quilter said.
The goal was to have a plan by early March, Quilter said.
The money from Measure T will be held in a separate account, Quilter said. It will be used to fund new positions, Quilter said, in department that have been set as priorities.
In January, city council members authorized city staff to begin recruitment for police officers, fire fighters and maintenance workers, said Doug Emerson, Hollister’s mayor.
Council members authorized recruitment, not hiring, Emerson said.
“It was going to take some time to go through the recruitment process,” Emerson said. “Especially for police, it takes six months.”
One of the city council members’ goals for the next five years is reduced crime, Emerson said.
“As we go into the budget process, those goals should drive some of our decision making,” Emerson said.
The tax increase will not drive customers to shop elsewhere, said Robert Yant, owner of Enterprise Electronic.
“Gas is so high, that if you go out of town you’re going to pay a lot,” Yant said.
Hollister’s sales tax will still be lower than Santa Clara County’s said Pat McFarland, owner of the Fireplace Depot.
“With the economy in a decline, it doesn’t feel good,” McFarland said. “If we want the services that we already have and more, you’ve got to pay for it.”
Although Kelly Owczarzak, owner of Kelly’s Gift Place, said she hopes that customers will not be driven away by the tax, she is worried.
“Had people been shopping locally, we wouldn’t have needed to raise the sales tax,” Owczarzak said. “Now that we’ve got the sales tax, people won’t be shopping locally.”
Alice Landeros, a Hollister resident who works in Gilroy, said that the tax would not affect her shopping habits.
“I guess I don’t notice because I shop in Gilroy and it’s higher in Gilroy,” Landeros said, referring to sales tax.
Suzanne Damm, another Hollister resident, also works in Gilroy.
“I’m just curious to see what happens with the money,” Damm said.
