LEMON GROVE CITY COUNCIL MAY ADD SALES TAX INCREASE INITIATIVE TO THE BALLOT NEXT YEAR

Other priority goals include street repairs, addressing homelessness and climate change, and livestreaming council meetings

By Jessyka Heredia

Watch full video here

June 15, 2023 (Lemon Grove)- At last week’s Lemon Grove City Council meeting, city manager Lydia Romero highlighted the Council’s top priorities for fiscal year 2023/2024 from the priority-setting workshop back in May. Among these priorities are to “engage residents, businesses, and stakeholders on the benefits of passing a sales tax in FY 2024 that will increase revenue to address priority needs,” according to the staff report. Romero said this was voted as the top priority from Council with four votes and three votes from the small handful of residence in attendance at the workshop.

Can the measure succeed after an earlier tax increase ballot initiative narrowly failed to win passage?

History of the earlier effort

In 2020, Proposition S was put on the ballot as a citizens’ initiative that proposed a 0.75% Transaction & Use Tax. Signatures to add it to the ballot were submitted by former council member Yadira Altamirano, former school board member Jay Bass and current Mayor Pro-Tem George Gastil. The sales tax increase initiative said it could “be spent for all allowable purposes, including, but not limited to, public safety, recreation services, and homeless services. The sales tax is not a special tax. The revenues generated cannot be used to subsidize non-general fund programs” according to the staff report dated November 19, 2019.

Measure S ultimately failed, with 57% of voters voting no. Critics of Measure S claimed that the sales tax increase had no end date and that the petition was not circulated to the public correctly.

Resident John L Wood filed a lawsuit on behalf of  Lemon Grove Neighbors Against the Lifetime Tax.  The suit argued that the Vote Yes for the Lemon Grove Sales Tax group failed to comply with a state election code requirement to publish names of the backers.  “A published notice included only the title and summary of the measure,” the suit stated.

The judge in the case postponed the ruling on the case saying, “The court is concerned that its publicly available decision, either upholding or invalidating the initiative on February 21, 2020, a date before the election, could unfairly influence the voters, perhaps causing some voters to reflexively vote in favor of the initiative upon learning of the court’s upholding the validity of the initiative, or, alternatively, causing some voters to reflexively vote against the initiative upon learning of the court’s having found the initiative legally invalid.”

Former Lemon Grove Councilmember Mary England told ECM back in March of 2020, “When I first heard that the petition was circulated by supporters without telling people signing the petition that the tax was forever - a lifetime, I believe there should have been a  full disclosure and those gathers should have advised the people of that fact,” explained England via email. “The paperwork, ballot statement and other media supporting the measure never addressed that fact either.”  

The new proposal for a sales tax increase

The cost associated with putting this new measure on the 2024 ballot is estimated to be $35,000 to $40,000 in order “to commission a survey to gauge voter support” according to the June 6 staff report.

There are no specifics yet on how the sales tax initiative will be worded,or how much the proposed tax increase would be. It is important to note that the budget has not been finalized and will be voted on by the City Council next Tuesday, June 20

Other priorities highlighted from the priorities workshop include:

• Street Repairs: Allocate one-time monies to improve streets in poor condition, in neighborhoods, and near schools and parks. Staff recommends allocating $1.2 million for streets 25 PCI and below.

• Traffic Calming: Continue traffic control and calming strategies and projects. City was awarded a CalTrans grant to create mobility plan to improve safety, especially around schools.

• Staffing – Add, retain and attract additional city staff.

• Homeless: Address homeless issues using ARPA grant money, and if needed, general funds.

• Communication Plan: Update and implement City’s communication plan to engage stakeholders on the positive aspects of living and working in Lemon Grove, and on priority issues, such as homelessness and revenue enhancement.

• Council Meetings: Commence broadcasting of Council meetings via live streaming. Prepare a report for City Council’s consideration that would detail equipment and building costs, as well as on ongoing costs.

• Climate Change Projects: Use one-time federal monies to implement projects that further our climate change plan such as retrofitting City buildings, attaining funds for electric vehicles charging stations and electrical vehicles.