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For months, the San Benito County Board of Supervisors has been working to balance a particularly challenging budget and now they are pursuing additional revenue in the form of a 1% sales tax increase.
With an Oct. 2 deadline to adopt the 2025–26 budget, the supervisors agreed on Sept. 25 to seek the increase through a ballot measure.
Though they did not take a formal vote, the five supervisors all signalled support for bringing the proposal back for official discussion, a necessary step before officially placing it on the election ballot.
Board chair Kollin Kosmicki told County Administrative Officer Esperanza Colio Warren to “start the process of getting that on the ballot.”
“We keep talking about that, but let’s put that on the table, let’s bring that forward,” he said.
The unincorporated areas of San Benito County currently have a sales tax rate of 8.25%. A 1% increase would bring the rate to 9.25%, matching Hollister’s rate and making it the second highest for an unincorporated area on the Central Coast, behind Santa Cruz County at 9.5%. Nearby cities such as Monterey, Santa Cruz and Salinas all have rates above 9%.
Supervisor Ignacio Velazquez said the increase should have happened when Hollister’s sales tax was increased in 2018.
“We can’t be at 8.25% when everybody around us is already at 9.75%,” he said. “The realities are the realities. But we have to show the public that just because we get more dollars doesn’t mean we’re just going to go spend it like crazy.”
The proposal is meant to boost revenue as the county struggles with a multimillion-dollar budget gap caused by revenues failing to keep pace with spending and a reliance on one-time state and federal funds received during the pandemic.
The supervisors have been working since April to close a $23 million shortfall. County officials have spent months drafting cuts across nearly every department and searching for savings to avoid layoffs.
Still, a plan from the county administrative officer remains on the table that would eliminate 13 vacant positions and nine filled ones in offices such as County Counsel, Public Works, Elections and the Agricultural Commissioner.
No final decision on the budget has been made. Supervisors are scheduled to continue budget talks on Sept. 30 at 1:30 p.m. in the county chambers.
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