Modesto City Council expected to place 1% sales tax on the November ballot
The Modesto City Council on Tuesday is expected to put a 1% sales tax on the November ballot. If approved by voters, city officials say the tax would bring in $39 million annually for public safety, addressing homelessness and blight, improving parks and other basics.
The city is proposing a general sales tax for the ballot. It requires a simple majority to pass and can be used for any general government purpose.
Modesto’s current tax rate is 7.875%. As a comparison, Ceres’ rate is 8.375%, Turlock’s is 8.625%, Manteca’s is 8.25% and Stockton’s is 9%, according to the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration.
The tax would tax effect April 2023 if approved by voters.
The ordinance for the sales tax states the City Council would appoint a nine-member oversight board by June 2023 that would meet publicly at least semiannually “to review all revenues and expenditures of funds from the tax authorized by this ordinance, review annual audit reports related to this tax measure, and make at least one written annual report to the City Council at a public meeting summarizing the oversight board’s findings.”
The board would consist of members from each of the six council districts and three at-large members. The ordinance states the council “shall give strong preference to members that represents a cross-section of the community.”
The ordinance states that includes representatives from schools, local trade associations, chambers of commerce, nonprofit organizations, nonpartisan political groups, taxpayer associations, senior citizens groups and neighborhood associations.
The ballot measure for the tax states it would “fund general city services ..., such as police patrols, gang, drug, and crime prevention; fire protection, paramedic/911 emergency response; addressing homelessness; cleaning up trash and illegal dumping; keeping streets, parks, sidewalks, landscapes and infrastructure safe, clean, and well-maintained ... .”
The measure also states it would take another vote to end the tax.
The 1% sales tax is for the city’s general fund, which makes up about a third of the city’s operating budget. (The operating budget for the city’s next budget, which starts Friday, is $508 million.)
The general fund in the new budget is forecast at $171 million. (That is little misleading because it includes $4.5 million in one-time federal pandemic relief funding.) About 80% of the fund is spent on police and fire services, with the rest on other basic services, including parks.
City officials have said that because of state funding formulas, Modesto does not receive as much general fund revenue as its peer cities. Officials also say that while its general fund revenues, which are primarily sales, property and other taxes, are growing, they are not growing as fast as general fund expenses. Those expenses primarily are for employee compensation, including pensions.
That has led to structural deficits since the Great Recession of more than a dozen years ago, which the city has closed each year through such measures as freezing or eliminating open positions and reducing services.
City Manager Joe Lopez warns in a report to the City Council that without this sales tax measure, the city faces in future years the reduction or elimination of critical services, with the largest portion coming from public safety.
The council meets at 5:30 p.m. in the basement chambers of Tenth Street Place, 1010 10th St. The meeting also will be livestreamed, and the public can watch and ask questions over Zoom.
More information is available at www.modestogov.com/749/City-Council-Agendas-Minutes and by clicking on the meeting link.
This story was originally published June 28, 2022 at 6:00 AM.
