But economic report says people still taking their tax dollars
out of the county
An annual report on San Benito County’s economic progress shows
that people are spending more money closer to home.
The 2002 Overall Economic Development Program is prepared
annually to comply with federal rules regarding grants given by the
Economic Development Administration.
But economic report says people still taking their tax dollars out of the county
An annual report on San Benito County’s economic progress shows that people are spending more money closer to home.
The 2002 Overall Economic Development Program is prepared annually to comply with federal rules regarding grants given by the Economic Development Administration.
While Hollister has not pursued any EDA grants for at least five years, according to Economic Development Director Bill Avera, San Juan Bautista, for example, is looking to secure millions of dollars from the EDA to improve its sewer system.
The report has several bright areas. But sales taxes still haven’t grown all that much in proportion to the overall amount of money collected by the City of Hollister over the last few years, according to Finance Director Barbara Mulholland. Sales taxes accounted for $3.5 million of the general fund money spent by the city last year, or 23 percent. They typically grow between $250,000 and $350,000, she said.
“In government you have two kinds of money: general fund money and fixed money. The general fund supports the majority of the police, the majority of the fire department. It’s the fund that makes the government work,” she said.
A local resident buying a $10,000 car in Hollister, for example, will be handing $725 to their local government – as opposed to $700 or $800 to another city such as Gilroy, which has seen its sales tax base grow enough to supply 50 percent of the general fund.
While Councilman Tony Bruscia thinks it’s important that local residents buy more locally, the civic leaders and the business community need to take better advantage of tourist draws already here like the Pinnacles National Monument, the Hollister Hills State Recreation Area and the Motorcycle Rally.
“For example, wouldn’t it be really cool if we could get Harley Davidson to put a Harley Davidson Hotel in there at the Union Bank building,” he said. “If we could combine that with a motorcycle museum that would be cool. There has to be a reason for people to come to Hollister.”
One major contributor to the city’s bottom-line, Tiffany Ford, does all it can to improve the city’s lot, said Sales Manager Jack Arnerich, since what’s good for the town is also good for the dealership.
“We’re always promoting to shop locally, buy locally, keep your dollars locally,” he said.
The dealership provided a nice boost to the general fund in 1998 when it moved to a larger location on Gateway Drive and sold 100 more cars over the previous year, he said. The ratio right now of out-of-town buyers to local buyers at the dealership is about 60-40, he said.
The report shows several bright areas between the years 1966 and 2000, the year for which the latest statistics are available. General merchandise sales per capita in the county leapt from $604 in 1996 to $771 in 2000, while a similar state figure dropped. The same formula shows overall spending grew from $4,191 to $5,217, a figure attributed to the strong economy at that time.
Agriculture remains a powerful driving force in San Benito County’s economy. Last year’s crop gross hovered just shy of $209 million and nursery plants, lettuce and grapes accounting for about $59 million of that total, or nearly 30 percent. Last year’s crop total was less than $200,000 off from the previous years.
“It seems there’s a perception that the ag part of this community is going away, but it’s a huge part our economy,” Avera said, who cautioned against looking too much into the report’s numbers. “We use it more as a marketing tool than anything else.”
