In an action akin to an all-out rout, the San Benito County Board of Supervisors put their tails between their legs and ran from the battlefield at Wednesday’s special meeting They did not direct staff to put a proposed 1 percent sales transaction tax in the county’s unincorporated areas on the November ballot, choosing instead to surrender without a fight.
It seems the failure of Measure P, the proposed road improvement tax, to attain the required 66 2/3 percent approval (it received 59.5 percent) just scared them witless, a general sales tax for the unincorporated area would need 50 percent plus 1 vote to win. One defeat and they go into the “give-up” mode; I guess they do not realize that you lead from the front.
The residents of both Hollister and San Juan Bautista stepped up long ago and approved transaction sales taxes to compensate for the lack of business development. At the same time the enormous potential of a transaction sales tax in the unincorporated areas has gone wanting.
Just prior to approval of the county’s recent General Plan the Planning Commission added, and the board accepted, the designation of four economic development nodes along the 101 Freeway. These would primarily be doing business with the heavy pass-through traffic between Santa Clara and Monterey Counties. The nodes have the potential of generating significant tax revenue with little or no impacts if there were a transaction sales tax. Additionally, the potential tax revenue can be used as a carrot to get the nodes developed. The county can trade some of the revenue back to the commercial developer for a limited time as an incentive.
The county has already approved a large Dell Webb community whose residents will have significant buying power and the plans include commercial areas for resident-focused businesses and services. Why would the county give up this badly needed potential income vital for public services without even a fight?
Since The Pinnacles became a National Park there has been a steady stream of visitors and that will only grow, but every $100 of taxable spending today in the unincorporated areas directly servicing those visitors generates only 75-cents in sales taxes for the county general fund.
Another issue is that the county’s city dwellers deserve to know if the residents of the unincorporated areas are willing to step up and help do their fair share to support the county’s general expenses. Putting the measure on the ballot would not be a lot more expensive, and it would be a lot more accurate than hiring a PR firm to do surveys that are always iffy. The board is talking about coming back in two years – after we are totally broke and understaffed. If this ballot fails they can come back in two years anyway..
When the voter’s rejected Measure P, which was their right, it was clear that they did not want to pay to fix and maintain the roads in the county. If the Supervisor’s fail to step up and put a leveling 1 percent transaction sales tax on the ballot for the voters to decide it will also be clear that they, the Supervisors, are unwilling to take any leadership position to help the county maintain its critical services and repair its crumbling infrastructure.
If they act now the county has four months to make their case to the voters, if that’s not enough time they will never have enough time. They have that government attitude – “Four months, why you can’t do anything in four months.” You can do a lot if you really want to. Frightened people think small and act small and this board is disappearing from view as we watch them shrink to nothingness.
If the tax does not even make it to the ballot I will bring them a white flag so they can wave it and formalize their surrender to fear and isolationist interests.