This commentary was contributed by San Benito County resident Tajni Diller. The opinions expressed do not necessarily represent BenitoLink or other affiliated contributors. Lea este artículo en español aquí.

San Benito County Supervisors want us residents to agree to raise sales tax from 8.25% to 9.25% on the unincorporated area of SBC this November. They say it’s about closing a $23 million budget gap.

But here’s my challenge to our leaders: and please, prove me wrong.

I don’t think I’m alone in saying to the BOS to show me that this county leadership has truly managed its money wisely before asking residents for more. Because what I see looks like waste and poor decisions:

• The Hollister Biker Rally lost nearly $200,000, and the city even shifted a $250,000 Amazon donation (meant for restrooms) just to make the losses look smaller.

• Small businesses are regularly suffocated by permit hurdles and inspector overreach. One downtown remodel is held up until the owner agrees to pay for unrelated exterior upgrades.

• A thriving hospitality venue was shut down because the county demanded it cover road improvements — public infrastructure that should never have been a small business’ burden.

• “Commercial development” tied to new housing tracts is still just dirt lots with no retail chain commitments, while supervisors chase a vague “agricultural tourism” strategy that nobody can define.

Meanwhile, over 60% of Hollister residents commute out of the county for work. Like many, I fuel up when I’m out of town because it’s cheaper — often by 75¢ a gallon. Do we really think raising local sales tax will suddenly keep commuters shopping here on weekends? Or draw tourism?

And let’s not forget county employees — already working in one of the most stressful workplaces in our community — are seeing cuts to salaries, positions, and PTO. Yet supervisors don’t appear to be open to cutting their own pay. Add in budgets that reportedly treated one-time COVID relief money as if it were permanent revenue, and it’s hard to call this anything but incompetence.

So, before you ask us to pay more, prove me wrong:
• Prove that spending has been responsible.
• Prove that waste has been cleaned up.
• Prove that commercial growth will actually happen.
• And most of all, prove why we should trust this Board of
Supervisors with one more dime of our money.

Until then, raising sales tax doesn’t feel like leadership — it’s passing the buck to the very families and businesses already paying the price. Sales tax is the most regressive tax we have. It hits working families hardest, while doing nothing to fix the poor decisions that got us here.

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