Pittsburg leaders pushing hard for new sales tax

Pittsburg leaders pushing hard for new sales tax

By Sean Maher
Contra Costa Timescontracostatimes.com

Posted: 05/29/2012 07:21:14 AM PDT

May 29, 2012 2:21 PM GMTUpdated: 05/29/2012 07:21:32 AM PDT

With California's next election a week away, Pittsburg leaders are pushing hard to promote a new sales tax they want voters to approve.

• Measure P requires a simple majority of approval from Pittsburg voters, and will be on the June 5 ballot. It would increase Pittsburg's sales tax from 8.25 percent to 8.75 percent for five years, then reduce it to 8.5 percent for another five years before sunsetting and returning the tax to the rate set by Sacramento.

• The measure would bring in an estimated $2 million annually for the first five years, helping plug a budget gap for next year estimated at $3 million. City Manager Joe Sbranti said city employees have already volunteered to help bridge that gap, agreeing to make payments into their own pensions. Those payments had previously been made by the city.

If the measure fails, according to proposals from Sbranti's office, the city might put off hiring new police, reduce senior center hours and begin furloughs or layoffs.

Councilwoman [Vice Mayor] Nancy Parent has led the campaign charge, together with police union president Chuck Blazer. The union has been the single largest fundraiser in the campaign, Parent said, helping pay for the banners, mailers and robocalls reaching out to residents to persuade them to vote for the measure.

• "It's going very well," Parent said of the campaign. Though there has been no recent polling to test how voters are responding, she said, "So far no one appears in opposition."

• She pointed out that no one filed an argument against the measure for the voter information guide the county sent to registered voters.

One opposing view came from Pittsburg resident and former state Assemblyman Joe Canciamilla, who said he thinks the measure falls short of what's needed.

• "The campaign offers a simply black-and-white choice," Canciamilla said. "They make it sound like either you have police and good treatment for seniors, or you have rampant crime and seniors on the street. It's couched in terms that are very incendiary and designed to engender an emotional response."

• Even if the sales tax helps plug the local budget shortfall, Canciamilla argued, impending cuts to both state and federal funding for local needs will be so damaging that the city needs to dramatically restructure how it operates.

Councilman Sal Evola, who is supporting the measure, said he agreed with Canciamilla that the tax won't be enough, but it will help.

• "We know these are tough times and every dollar counts," Evola said. "We know it's the wrong time to be asking for this. But I personally believe city staff has demonstrated that we reduced and cut back everywhere else we can."

• Evola also disagreed with some public sentiment at a recent budget workshop, that with crime at a 50-year low, the city can get by just fine without the new police officers.

• "I agree that crime is at an all-time low: I attribute that to our officers doing more with less," he said. "That doesn't mean you reward them with less funding."

Tag:  "Elections," "Voting"