New Taxes, Budget Cuts or Both?

Against taxes? What would you cut?
Fairfield Daily Republic | June 21, 2012

By Kelvin Wade


Fairfield is between a rock and a hard place. Do we cut another $7.75 million out of the budget somehow or try to pass a tax in November? Or do we make more cuts and pass a smaller tax measure?

A 1 percent sales tax increase would raise our 7.375 percent tax rate on par with Vallejo’s.  But maybe a smaller increase would be easier to pass. We’d still have to make some tough cuts that are going to affect the quality of life in Fairfield.

One of the biggest hurdles to a tax measure is the fact that there will be several other tax measures on the state ballot this November. Are Fairfielders going to want to vote for a local tax measure and, in the same election, vote to increase the state sales tax as well? When is the last time voters elected to tax themselves twice in a single election?

We just passed Measure L, the library tax, but that was a unique case. It wasn’t a new tax. If we pass a new 1 percent tax, for every hundred dollars you spend, you’d be tossing another buck into city coffers. Would you notice it?

Persuading different groups would be challenging. There is the unpersuadable “no tax increase” voter. These voters drank Grover Norquist’s Kool-Aid that says you never increase taxes. It’s an absurd position to take because in a fiscal crisis no option should be off the table. They will never vote for a sales tax increase.

Some people believe there’s more fat to be trimmed. You see these types of folks in homeowners associations. They complain about their dues and where their money is spent and once they get on the board, they find that it’s not so easy to find all of that rampant waste. Cuts affect people’s lives.

Then there’s a bloc of voters who just doesn’t trust giving the government any more money. While supporters of Proposition 29, the tobacco tax that is still undecided, point the finger at money from Big Tobacco, one of the culprits in its potential failure was that the overwhelming majority of tobacco funds California received in the past decade were diverted to other uses. Folks don’t believe the money goes where politicians say it’s going to go.

Finally, you have people who are just stretched too thin.

Should a local tax measure end up on the Fairfield ballot in November, one of the things working in its favor is that our money would be staying here and not going to Sacramento. Secondly, we have City Council members who absolutely hate tax increases. I think that gives them credibility on the tax issue and inspires confidence that your money isn’t going to be squandered.

There would definitely have to be a sunset clause. The tax would have to end at some point.

As for budget cuts, I don’t think we can have sacred cows. I don’t say that to scare anyone, but the reality is without revenues to pay for city services, we have few options but to cut. Those cuts will be devastating to this city as we know it. Sure, I’d like to say the senior center and public safety is off limits, but we have to go wherever the money is.

If you’re steadfast against new taxes, then you’re the people the council wants to hear from. They want your ideas on how to close the budget gap. The clock is ticking. Peace.