A few City Council meetings ago was the first time I heard about a tax increase. The question at that time seemed to be whether the tax should be by way of a property tax or an increase in the sales tax. My immediate feeling was “no more taxes! Don’t go this route. It’s not only unpopular but a losing proposition.” However, after attending City Council meetings for the past year as well as Budget meetings, strategic planning meetings and the Ad Hoc Fire committee meetings, I realized what the city was facing as far as its financial future. Many people are not aware that over the years the State of California has forced the cities to take on State mandated programs without providing any funding. So, after getting over my immediate emotional xreaction I realized that the city may not have any alternative.
You may ask how I got involved in the sales tax issue. Well, over the years I have seen the crime rate rise and fewer and fewer police on the streets to combat crime. I retired a couple of years ago and started to get more involved in what’s going on in the city.
I started hearing complaints from many of the residents and business owners of Seal Beach that they never see any police officers patrolling the streets anymore. There’s no bicycle patrol, there are no police walking on Main Street.
I investigated what was going on and found that over the last 30 years instead of the Police Department increasing as the city expanded north of the San Diego Freeway, they actually shrank by 15 officers. I won’t bore you with the details but suffice to say we currently have a force of 32 sworn police officers, (that includes the Police Chief and his command staff) to cover the city of Seal Beach which is a diverse beach community with an influx of tourists on weekends and especially during the summer. I spoke with the police chief, mayor and City Council members and they all agree there are an insufficient number of police officers on the street. The problem is that as most cities in California, Seal Beach is facing a budget deficit for 2018-2019. There is no money in the budget to hire the appropriate number of police officers, firefighters and paramedics.
To try and remedy the city’s problem, the City Council is going to place a measure on the November 2018 ballot to raise Seal Beach’s sales tax. This public safety issue will be addressed with the sales tax increase, if it passes. The City Council unanimously approved directing staff to draft a sales tax measure for consideration for the November 2018 ballot. With the rising crime rate, additional police officers are needed to combat this rise and make the city safe for the residents and business owners. Don’t get me wrong. Seal Beach has an outstanding Police Department and the officers do everything they can to prevent crime. It’s just that there are not enough of them.
Nobody likes an increase in any taxes but the city has no other way of addressing the budget deficit. As a concerned citizen, I realize that the passage of the sales tax increase is an uphill fight.
However, most cities around Seal Beach have recently had ballot measures to increase their sales tax (mostly for public safety). All of these measures have passed. Seal Beach’s sales tax is the lowest compared to comparable cities. Even a 1% sales tax increase in Seal Beach would put us on par with the other cities.
The city of Long Beach has a whopping 10.25% sales tax. If the City Council voted to increase Seal Beach’s sales tax by as much as 1% it would bring it to a total of 8.75 %.
I believe that the proposed sales tax increase needs to be viewed in conjunction with Proposition 6 (The Gas Tax Repeal). I agree with almost all Californians that we are overtaxed in the State. The Governor’s unilateral passage (and without taxpayer approval) of increasing the taxes on gas was unconscionable. This tax of 12 cents on every gallon of gas will hopefully be repealed with a “yes” vote on Proposition 6.
To put this in context, the residents of Seal Beach are going to be saving hundreds of dollars a year on repealing this burdensome gas tax and to have a safe, financially sound city there will only be an increase of one penny on every dollar spent on taxable items. Another benefit will be visitors and tourists that partake in our wonderful city and all it has to offer will be sharing in the costs for some of the benefits they receive by paying an increased sales tax to help ease the burden on the residents.
The reason I originally got involved in the city of Seal Beach’s affairs is the insufficient number of police officers on the street and the rising costs of Fire Services. These public safety issues are my motivation. I want to make Seal Beach safe and have a great environment for residents as well as visitors. We have a great city.
Earlier this year, I lobbied to get two additional police officers hired. The funding, however, came from borrowing money from the swimming pool account, which needs to be repaid, and it covers the two police officers for only one year.
The city needs to come up with a long term revenue stream. It looks like a sales tax increase may be the only way. I find myself in a very unusual position. I’m against raising taxes or implementing new ones and I still feel that way. However, I have observed for almost a year the city struggle with their financial burden and there is no apparent way out except for a sales tax increase. So, I find myself in the unenviable position to support and advocate for the sales tax increase.Looking at Nextdoor, I am already seeing anecdotal comments and emotional responses from the usual suspects.
These same people are not involved in making the city better. Most don’t get involved in trying to understand what’s going on in the city. They just want to complain and criticize. They will provide you with a gut reaction without thinking things through. In fact, if memory serves me, many of the same people that are emotionally responding to no new taxes are the same ones that complain on Nextdoor about “Where are the police? Crime is out of control” and “My car was broken into … when will this be stopped?”
Taxes are a dirty word, especially in California. Nobody wants them, especially me. However, when you weigh what’s going on in the city and the complaints residents have about rising crime and lack of services there is no alternative to paying a penny more to ensure that our city has a clean environment and is safe for everyone. Although this does not directly affect the increased sales tax discussion I would feel remiss if I didn’t touch on it. As I wrote earlier, the city has its curmudgeons and I’m sure they will be coming out of the woodwork on this issue.
There has been mention of bookkeeping errors by the city staff which were discovered by Robert Goldberg. I applaud Mr. Goldberg’s efforts and welcome his continued participation in the city affairs. I’m always impressed with what he comes up with on a variety of topics. However, the “egregious” error cited by a resident that “most people would be fired over” was a simple error in transferring money between accounts. It didn’t affect the budget discussion and would have been easily discovered during the city’s auditor’s review of the books and accounts. Even Mr. Goldberg agrees that although it was a substantial amount of money it was of no consequence since it would have been discovered during a simple audit which the city routinely has conducted. So, embarrassing? Yes. Fire the employee? Let’s get serious. Get rid of the venom and emotion and approach this issue as mature rational adults trying to solve a problem.
We can expect emotional responses and attacks on the City Council and Seal Beach employees. I ask that you calmly and logically separate the “wheat” from the “chaff.” Please concentrate on the issue at hand and not someone’s agenda that quite frankly people get tired of hearing. Don’t complain. Offer some viable solutions and get involved constructively with the city.
People should be informed prior to voting and not make an emotional, knee jerk decision. I confess, that was my first reaction, but after I reflected on the totality of the circumstances I realized we need to bite the bullet and do what’s right. Please take the time to explore the sales tax issue and don’t be persuaded by emotional rants, attacks on the city and baseless statements.
Many of the comments on Nextdoor regarding this issue are plain inaccurate. Just because someone says “and that’s a fact” doesn’t mean that it’s true or a fact. Check everything out yourself.
Support our city of Seal Beach and vote “yes” on the sales tax increase and “yes” on the Gas Tax Repeal!
