Posted on Thusday, October 27, 2005

CONTRA COSTA TIMES
By John Geluardi

Voters to Consider Sales Tax Increase

RICHMOND - On Nov. 8, Richmond voters will consider another half-cent hike in sales tax to help stabilize the city's budget, which is still lagging from a $22 million shortfall two years ago. Measure Q would raise the city sales tax to 9.25 percent, making it the highest in the state. Voters approved another half-cent sales tax hike last year. Also called Measure Q, that initiative has added $4.6 million to city coffers, said Finance Director Jim Goins. Most of that money went to replenish the budgets for police and fire services and to restore hours at the Main Library.

The city's $107 million annual budget is now balanced, but at about $8 million less than it was in 2002-03. The city is still short about 150 employees, and city services such as libraries, community centers and road repair are still not operating at full capacity.

Supporters of Measure Q say Richmond still needs the additional revenue to restore city services to their pre-deficit levels. Opponents argue that the city is already on the right track to rebuild the city's finances and another half-cent sales tax would hamper it by discouraging new retail business.

Councilman Jim Rogers put the initiative on the ballot as a private citizen, with the support of eight of the city's nine council members. "We need to get back to the previous level of service, which was not all that great," he said. "Our roads are full of potholes and our parks are in shambles."

But Councilwoman Gayle McLaughlin, the one council member who opposed the measure, said increasing the sales tax would just be an additional burden on working families. "It leans on ordinary folks," she said in a letter to the editor. "Richmond should first make sure all sectors are paying their fair share of taxes. I don't support giving million-dollar tax breaks to Chevron, and then taking more from Richmond's working families."

There is no organized opposition to Measure Q, but the Richmond Chamber of Commerce has spoken out against the half-cent hike. Joshua Genser, the former chair of the Chamber, said a sales tax hike would discourage new businesses from coming to town. "Richmond is a very challenging place to do business," he said. "This measure is unnecessary and would just make tougher for the city to attract business." Genser added that Richmond has a new city manager and financial director who seem to have gotten the city's finances in hand. "I'm confident that the right people are now in place and that progress has been made," Genser said.

Rogers said there are a lot of advantages to doing business in Richmond despite what opponents say about Measure Q.
"There is this argument that the sales tax will scare off new business, but there's evidence that businesses are still coming here," he said. "Target and Wal-Mart are both opening up new stores and they are doing it with full knowledge of our sales tax situation.

Contact John Geluardi at 510-262-2787 or at jgeluardi@cc times.com .