San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
EL CAJON MOVES TO RAISE SALES TAX TO 1 CENT
Recent poll suggests most residents would support hike
Leaders of East County’s largest city have moved to raise the local sales tax, sending the measure to voters just three months ahead of November’s election.
The El Cajon City Council unanimously voted Tuesday to bump the city’s half-cent tax, set to expire at the end of the decade, to 1 cent.
The new charge wouldn’t have an expiration date, although there would be ways to reduce or eliminate it. Proponents said the extra money was needed to beef up city services and address the region’s homelessness crisis by potentially hiring 20 additional cops.
“Our community is asking us to do more,” City Manager Graham Mitchell told the council. “There’s an expectation that we do more on homelessness, that we do more in crime prevention and with a half-cent sales tax measure, more cannot be accomplished.”
A vote to raise taxes was a significant move for a conservative council, and a gamble so near to the general election.
But officials cited a recent poll suggesting strong support for the measure.
A large majority of respondents, nearly 70 percent, signaled they would vote for a 1-cent sales tax to improve public safety, according to a survey of hundreds of residents last month by the Newport Beach-based firm Probolsky Research.
Several council members expressed hesitation about the hike, but each was won over by arguments from staffers that new funds could help the growing city.
“Police officers are being burned out, we have firefighters that are being burned out,” Councilmember Phil Ortiz said. “If it’s not justified in this scenario, then I don’t know when it would be justified.”
The council also approved a resolution outlining its goals for the money, including “expanding fire/ems services” and “enhancing parks,” although that measure was largely symbolic.
Another vote set aside $150,000 for “information sharing efforts.” City officials said they were barred from explicitly campaigning for the measure but were allowed to publicize how it would work.
In a brief interview, El Cajon Police Chief Mike Moulton noted there were limits on when cops could remove tent encampments. But he said more officers would undeniably help.
“We don’t have the resources to address every single person that’s illegally camping in the city tonight,” he said.
The number of homelessness-related calls has generally increased in recent years, according to data provided by the chief. In 2013, fewer than 3,000 calls were received. By 2020, the number was well past 7,000.
El Cajon’s finances have been healthy enough for leaders to sock away millions in savings, although officials have long worried about what might happen if the current half-cent tax was allowed to expire in 2029.
That measure pulls in about $12.5 million a year, covering a significant portion of the city’s $92 million budget.
Even if leaders only wanted to extend the existing tax, waiting until the deadline was risky, the city manager said. Future elections would likely include other proposed tax increases from agencies around the state, potentially forcing El Cajon to compete on a crowded ballot.
If votes say “yes” to the increase in November, the council would have to vote on the measure again for it to take effect.
The 1-cent tax would bring in about $24 million a year, officials said.
All five members of the council would have the option of reducing the charge if they later decided the extra money wasn’t needed. Voters could also petition to repeal the measure.
The new revenue would be monitored through a seven-member Citizens Oversight Committee, similar to the one that already oversees money from the Proposition O tax from 2004.
Although the poll showed support for increasing the sales tax, it also detailed headwinds leaders might face.
About a third of respondents said the city was on the “wrong track,” while only about a fifth said El Cajon was on the “right track,” according to the firm’s 187page report. Nearly half weren’t sure.
Residents skeptical about the city’s future cited an increase in homelessness and poverty. Reducing the number of people on the street was far and away respondents’ top priority.
Four hundred people were surveyed by phone and online between July 23 and July 26. Most responded in English, although 10 percent spoke in Spanish and 2 percent preferred Arabic. El Cajon is about one-quarter Hispanic or Latino and has a large population of Iraqi Chaldeans.