Citizen Led Sales Tax Initiative
The following are reasons why I am supporting the citizen led initiative, asking you the voters, to consider adding a 1% increase to our existing sales tax in Loma Linda.
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The four cities surrounding us have already added a 1% local sales tax increase and we have postponed it for as long as we could; now it has become a necessity.
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For the last two years, our city has been forced to adopt a deficit budget. This means we do not have enough money to cover all of our expenses. We have been forced to use savings to make up the difference. To reduce the gap, we held multiple positions open, postponed maintenance and canceled needed purchases. All, while trying to attract new businesses and revenue.
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We are a very lean city, with many employees handling multiple duties. We have an empty fire station we cannot afford to staff. Our current budget mainly covers basic levels of police and fire service, roads, water and maintenance of city assets, and we are struggling to do that.
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We are currently understaffed compared to surrounding communities. Because of California state mandated housing growth, and to keep up with the increase in crime and calls for service, we need to add additional employees, including fire and law enforcement personnel.
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There is a small group of folks who would like you to believe this has all been because of a lack of prudence, but they have done nothing to help bring in revenue. One of them recently said he would rather the city go bankrupt, before considering a sales tax increase. Another one of them recently sued the city, to prevent you, the voters from deciding this issue. They have openly said they recruited a sympathetic candidate so they can take control of the City Council and make even more cuts to our services. ***By the way, our city has open books and yearly audits from independent firms who say we are one of the most professional and frugal cities in the state.
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Currently, we only get a very small percentage of all the taxes you pay. The vast majority of those property and sales taxes, go to the federal, state and county governments, not to our beloved city. As costs continue to rise everywhere, including fuel, insurance, equipment, parts and fair employee salaries, we cannot keep up.
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The citizen led initiative is asking you, the voters, to consider a 1% addition to our sales tax rate that will come directly back to our city and allow us to support public safety, our infrastructure, city services, fill our open positions and help keep our employees fairly compensated. Essential purchases such as housing, groceries, medication and other necessities are excluded from sales tax, and a large portion of this 1% will be paid by visitors who shop or do business here.
***The same unethical people fighting this initiative may try to convince you this is about employee salaries or greed. That is blatantly false and unfair to our hardworking staff! Last year, a salary survey of surrounding cities, showed we were paying most of our employees far below median rates.***