Look how much more we could do with a bump in Modesto’s sales tax

When elected in 2020, I was ready to work with other Modesto City Council members and our mayor to tackle some of the problems that we faced. Homelessness, trees, sidewalks, housing, and a safer city were our top priorities.

One of my first assignments was the Finance Committee. After many months of looking at city finances and working with the city manager on the budget, I realized that our city has major budget shortages that need to be addressed.

Here are some facts that may surprise you as much as they did me.

Many think the city gets all the property and sales taxes paid by city residents. Not true . 70% of our property taxes go directly to the state of California; 30% of property taxes come back to Stanislaus County, and the city of Modesto receives 30% of the county’s portion. So for every $1,000 in property tax we pay, the city’s portion is about $90.

If you spend $100 at a store in Modesto, your sales tax is $7.88, reflecting our current 7.88% sales tax rate. Of that $7.88, Modesto receives only $1 and the rest goes mostly to the state and other jurisdictions. When we look at cities around us like Ceres, Turlock, Oakdale, Merced and Atwater, all of their sales taxes are in the 8% range. For a city our size, we have one of the lowest sales taxes.

Now let’s look at our general fund, which covers police, fire, maintenance of 100,000 trees, 78 parks, repair of sidewalks, homeless issues, and other items.

Back in 2006, Modesto had roughly 300 police officers and today we have 188. And their workload is much higher. Many of our officers are leaving to other jurisdictions. This year, public safety is 81% of our general fund and growing. A few years ago, public safety was 70% of the general fund.

We have cut city staff down to the bare minimum, which has kept us from moving forward as a city. We have millions of dollars in deferred maintenance needed on city buildings, an aging fire station is unsafe for our fire personnel, many parks need repair and replaced equipment for our children, we keep putting off tree and park maintenance, and we don’t have enough to keep our roadways clean and free of litter and weeds.

Because of the pandemic, we were able to receive one-time funds from Washington, D.C. that have helped in some of these areas. However, it’s just a Band-Aid, and it is not likely to be continued.

So, we are at a crossroads on what our city will look like in the future.

We have great things happening in Modesto like the Gallo Center for the Arts, the new Modesto Children’s Museum, Graffiti week, the new Graffiti USA Museum, the Almond Blossom Cruise, river walks and bike trails. But we have enormous challenges regarding financial sustainability.

I see a future city of Modesto that will be a place where families want to live and others want to visit and enjoy everything we have to offer. The one-cent sales tax that Measure H proposes will help our city take care of many of the needs we have. Essential purchases such as food and prescription medicine are exempt from the sales tax.

Only you can decide. Please join me, the Modesto Chamber of Commerce and the employees’ associations of Modesto in supporting Measure H.

If we fail, we will face greater shortfalls and reductions. Frankly, we can’t afford to fail our residents in the provision of essential services.