Gonzales’ track record main hurdle facing soda tax proposal
Santa Fe Mayor Javier Gonzales enjoyed the national attention he received by appearing on network television to talk about protecting immigrants in the era of President Donald Trump.
Now the spotlight is harsher and less kind to Gonzales.
He is leading the campaign for a city tax increase on sugary drinks to help expand early childhood education. Voters will decide whether to approve the tax in a special election on May 2.
The mayor is getting an earful from retailers, wholesalers, chambers of commerce and a conservative foundation. His opponents are organized and aggressive. But they aren’t Gonzales’ biggest worry, even with their slick and well-financed ad campaigns against the tax hike.
The greater problem for the mayor is that many other people from all stations in life don’t trust City Hall or its politicians to properly manage money or provide services. Because of the poor performance of Gonzales’ administration, they have good reasons to be skeptical about whether the tax increase would work as advertised.
What are residents receiving in return for the taxes they pay already?
Weeds infested so many city parks that they became a topic of sustained news coverage. The city billed itself as an oasis for tourists while neglecting green space for residents. Well-traveled roads are in disrepair, the potholes bigger than manhole covers in spots. Many side streets are more wrinkled than an
old dollar bill.
Those obvious deficiencies are bad enough. But what eroded trust in Gonzales more than any other issue was his stubborn defense of a bungled city bond issue to improve parks and trails.
Voters approved the $30.3 million bond issue in 2008, during the administration of Gonzales’ predecessor, David Coss. So many people complained that money from the bond issue was misspent under Coss’ regime that the city launched a halfhearted review.
It hired an Albuquerque accounting firm for $49,500 to double-check the bond expenditures, but not to audit them. The firm released a skimpy but damning report that said expense records were missing, various bond projects weren’t completed and the city’s own oversight policies were violated.
Gonzales still vouched for the project. His administration produced two reports of its own that said all the bond money was accounted for and spent appropriately.
This was not true. State Auditor Tim Keller eventually did a more thorough investigation of the bond issue than anything the city attempted. Keller’s audit found that $2 million was misspent. That money went for salaries and operational expenses instead of the large-scale improvements that voters authorized. Even so, Gonzales said there was no malfeasance.
More recently, Gonzales said city workers should receive a 5 percent raise. He should have been embarrassed when he discovered that his idea would cost taxpayers at least $3 million more than he said it would.
All these self-inflicted wounds have damaged Gonzales’ credibility. Even some true believers in the benefits of early childhood education question whether the city tax plan is the right solution for expanding the program.
The sin tax on beverages, including soda, juice boxes, sweetened iced tea and powdered drinks with sugar, is supposed to discourage consumers from buying those products. Gonzales’ opponents on the tax issue, such as Paul Gessing of the Rio Grande Foundation, say people will still consume sugary drinks, but they will do their shopping outside Santa Fe. Either way, revenue generated by the tax will decline, leaving early childhood programs without a sustained revenue stream.
What then? Dr. Barry Popkin, distinguished professor of nutrition at the public health school of the University of North Carolina, said in an interview that a subsequent sin tax on candy bars, potato chips and other junk foods could offset the revenue losses.
Great. That would mean another election, another battle between city government and businesses, and another system in which money for an ongoing education program would decrease.
Science tells us that expanding early childhood education is a smart idea. The mayor’s track record tells me that his tax plan is full of holes.
Gonzales is thinking big when it comes to early childhood education. But it’s hard to trust a mayor who hasn’t delivered on the basics.