I have the pleasure and honor of working with some really awesome folks on the Measure W Committee. You know us. We volunteer in many areas of the city for the betterment of all the community. I know the subject of taxes is not pleasant, but I firmly believe this tax is a necessity. It’s been like night and day for our city since the passage of Measures T and E. Â
It’s only natural to ask “what’s in it for me?” After all, you want to know what your money is spent on. Many good things have come from that 1 percent. To name a few, school resource officers, recent improvement at our parks, street sign program, reopening of park bathrooms and future planning for a very needed restroom at the whale park, winter basketball program and movies in the park. The city was able to remove city furloughs resulting in offices being open all day all week to serve the public. Most importantly, we have been able to maintain and improve our very vital public safety departments.Â
Of course, having been on the Measure E Oversight Committee for the last three years, I also want to see the city become less dependent on the extra tax, but it’s a tall order when our city is so under-funded via property tax splits. Two cents on the dollar; that’s the city’s portion when you pay your tax bill. Back in the day, you could run a small town on that amount, but we are a growing city in 2016 and the task of running a healthy city costs more now and we know that taxes stood still for many households through Proposition 13. We need to make it up somewhere. Â
Even if we keep our tax rate at 8.5 percent, we are still lower than surrounding communities. In my opinion, sales tax is the most fair because everyone pays sales tax, including visitors. Since we did not pass the Transient Occupancy Tax (a users’ tax for motels/hotels) or Measure P for our streets, Measure W is very important to maintain and enhance our city services. Keep that momentum moving forward. We still have a lot of work to do.
I appreciated it so much when you passed Measure E. I was so proud of my town. If you could see your way to vote Yes On W, I will be able to finish off my life knowing that the monies will be helping our future in Hollister. Future families benefiting from our decision appeals to me as I am sure it does you.
To the Committee members: I can’t tell you how much I respect you for caring enough about your city to work so hard on this campaign. The outcome of the election will never change that respect.  Thank you for allowing me to be part of this committee. I really enjoyed having all of you over.
Thank you so much for taking time to read my thoughts. Please vote Yes on Measure W for no tax increase.
Warm regards,
Carol Lenoir, Treasurer
Campaign for Hollister
in Support of Measure W