Hollister voters think they can do without a sales tax increase.
Welcome to the Wild West
Under the category of be careful what you wish for, the defeat
of Hollister’s 1 percent sales tax increase this week will force
the city to begin eliminating some of its services, including the
gang taskforce, and some fire and police services.
Hollister voters think they can do without a sales tax increase. Welcome to the Wild West
Under the category of be careful what you wish for, the defeat of Hollister’s 1 percent sales tax increase this week will force the city to begin eliminating some of its services, including the gang taskforce, and some fire and police services.
The defeat of Measure R will hit lower income residents the hardest, as they depend on city-sponsored recreation programs and services more than middle class and rich residents – a sentiment OK with 52.1 percent of Hollister voters.
Measure R would have added a 1-percent sales tax increase for a seven-year period, which would have raised it to 8.25 percent – what Santa Clara County’s sales tax is at present.
Since the city faces a shortfall of $2.8 million, an entire laundry list of services must be cut in order to keep the city operating in the black, said Councilman Doug Emerson.
“We’re faced with the decision of whether we want to make cuts or continue with deficit spending. The reserves are getting skimp,” Emerson said.
Here’s what Hollister voters saved themselves:
· City Hall hours will be reduced and city offices would be closed on Fridays.
· The Hollister Police Department’s contribution to the gang taskforce will be immediately eliminated.
· Proactive policing and property crime investigation would also be eliminated as would drug crime investigation.
· The police department would have to cut back hours to 25 per week and a majority of the services provided by animal control – including public education and spay/neuter programs will be eliminated. There would also be a reduction in the number of hours at animal control.
Chief of Police Jeff Miller didn’t know what the fate of the gang taskforce would be, since it’s funded through several other agencies, but said that the police department could be in jeopardy.
There will be many impacts and possibly a greater service reduction, Miller said. Some crimes would not even get police attention if they did not have the ability to respond to them.
“Graffiti abatement would have to be abandoned and there is a potential for staff reductions as well. We would have to cut investigation of property crimes and response to noise complaints as well,” Miller said.
Since the police department has already been operating on a limited budget, it would seem like things were going from bad to worse.
“It’s going to be very bleak,” Miller said.
Additionally the fire department would lose one truck company and half the paid-call firefighters on staff would be eliminated. The position of fire marshal would also be cut. Finally the entire recreation department would be eliminated and all park restrooms would be locked.
These are drastic changes, Emerson said, but there are precious few options. The city had $18 million in reserves in 2001, however as of January of this year the reserve fund was at roughly $7.2 million. The 2006-2007 budget has a $2.7 million deficit. City staff has already been reduced from 175 to 140 people, so cuts have been made where they can.
The council is now faced with the decision of whether to continue with things as they have been going, operating in the red, or reduce programs and swing things back to the black.
The sales tax initiative was a five-year fix that would have allowed the city some time to generate additional business and industry, but that was not to be.
City Manager Clint Quilter explained that it is pretty much an all or nothing scenario. So in order for the city to operate outside of a deficit state they would need to make all of the suggested cuts.
There are still a large number of absentee ballots that have to be counted, Quilter said, but the outcome isn’t likely to change.
“The council has taken on a lot of big issues this year, it would have been nice for them to have a budget to take on other things. It’s going to be hard for them if they have to operate in survival mode,” Quilter said.
Patrick O’Donnell can be reached at
po*******@pi**********.com
.
