Wrong solution, wrong problem

The answer to “when is enough, enough?” will appear on the June 2 county election ballot. That’s when the county Board of Supervisors will ask voters to approve a quarter-cent sales tax increase, promising to use the money to catch up on road and street repairs.
Before the ballots get printed the county and the participating nine cities must first increase their local “sales tax cap” above the state’s 8.25 percent to allow room for the new levy that will approach 10 percent in some locales. A dime on every dollar is a lot of tax. The tax increase is estimated to raise $20 million a year.
The sales tax measure would share funds between the county and cities, administered by the Sonoma County Transportation Authority. There is $268 million in needed repairs to the county’s 1,382 miles of roads, plus more inside of city limits. We all want smooth and safe roads, but at whose cost?
The state sales tax cap exists for a reason. When you have to raise it, that’s when you know, “enough is enough.”
We think the June sales tax increase is the wrong solution to the wrong problem. The problem is the county and cities have done a poor job fixing their busted retirement plans. They can’t fix our roads or complete other projects because the runaway pension costs keep depleting their general funds.
The county government has nearly $1 billion in unfunded pension and retiree health insurance payments. The county is spending over $200,000 a day from its general fund on this fiscal fiasco — and the hole keeps getting deeper. Taxpayers should say “no” to any new tax until real pension reform is ratified and put in place.
Every new cent of sales tax is a “free pass” to local elected officials, allowing them to increase their revenues without fixing their long term debt troubles. It gives them an excuse to raise our taxes, rather than grow a backbone and tackle the real problem of runaway pensions. For more excuses, you can listen to these same officials blame labor union contracts and state CalPERS rules for their inaction.
Most cities, including Healdsburg, Cloverdale, Sebastopol and Santa Rosa just passed new or expanded local user taxes or other tax increases. Voters just approved a $410 million bond for the Santa Rosa Junior College, amid numerous other local education bonds and parcel taxes.
All of these local government entities have an unfunded pension problem. None of them have faithfully addressed this ultimate taxpayer nightmare. Technically, several local governments, including the County of Sonoma, could already be declared insolvent.
We always have tried to support local taxes for local schools, infrastructure and social programs. Before now, we’ve trusted local elected officials to spend our tax money wisely, with prudence and thriftiness.
Not anymore.
We say, “enough is enough.”
The Recession is over and local tax revenues have begun to climb again — even without any tax level increases. Some reports show double-digit growth in city sales tax revenues, tourist bed taxes and improved property tax rolls.
We know that Sonoma County has the worst roads in the Bay Area, the result of many years of non-funding and diminished state and federal gas tax shares. Now that we have a “sunny” economy, we can buy some road and street improvements — without any new taxes.
The Board of Supervisors has twice delayed the quarter-cent sales tax increase from November to March, and now June. They recently expanded the proposed use of the tax to include public safety, transit and “other essential services.”
Since it is a “general” and not specific-use tax, the truth is the new taxes could be spent on anything — even more pensions.
That is why “enough is enough.”
— Rollie Atkinson