Sales Tax Ballot Measure

MEASURE A, SALES TAX

Video - Living within our Means (16 min.)

"Shall Ventura adopt a one-half percent sales tax ordinance to expire automatically in four years, with all the money staying local in Ventura, to preserve essential general fund services, such as police, fire and emergency response and provide additional funding for other priorities, including street repair, keeping Wright Library open and protecting local beaches from pollution, with a Citizen's Oversight Committee, mandatory audits and quarterly reports to the Council on how the money is spent?"

MEASURE A "Shall Ventura adopt a one-half percent sales tax ordinance to expire automatically in four years, with all the money staying local in Ventura, to preserve essential general fund services, such as police, fire and emergency response and provide additional funding for other priorities, including street repair, keeping Wright Library open and protecting local beaches from pollution, with a Citizen's Oversight Committee, mandatory audits and quarterly reports to the Council on how the money is spent?"

Living Within Our Means video

Watch "Living Within Our Means," a short video summarizing how the economic downtown has affected City services, and information on the November ballot measures that will determine how we prepare for the future.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

1. Why is there a ½-percent tax increase on the November 2009 ballot? In March 2009, a Citizen Blue Ribbon Budget Committee voted to recommend that a ½-percent sales tax increase be added to the November 2009 ballot, with the increase ending automatically four years after it began. The City Council voted to add the measure in July 2009.

Ventura’s sales tax is currently 8.25 percent. If the measure passes, the local sales tax will be 8.75 percent.

The City of Ventura balanced its budget by cutting spending by $11M over the next two years, but the national economic crisis will continue to affect local revenues for months and years to come. The State of California has announced that it will take an additional $4M from the City to solve the State’s budget crisis – “borrowing” $2.8M in property taxes and taking an additional $1.2M from the City’s Redevelopment Agency. Because the increase is a local tax, it cannot be borrowed or taken by the State.

2. What will the money raised from the ½-percent increase be used for? The Ventura City Council has committed to a spending plan for the estimated $8M the ½-percent increase would represent. As part of the ballot measure, a Citizen Oversight Committee will ensure that the funds are being spent as stated for the four years the tax is in effect.

Stated spending plan:

Public Safety – Police and Fire and Medical Emergency Services - 40%
Public Works Street Repair, Infrastructure Investment, Transit and Park Maintenance: 35%
Clean and Safe Beaches and Rivers: 15%
Keep Wright Library Open and Safeguard Library Services: 6%
Maintain and Build Effective Community Partnerships: 4%
Begin to fund the City’s Emergency Operating Reserves
The spending plan does not provide for increases in employee compensation.

3. How much will this cost me per year? The ½-percent increase will cost residents approximately $65-$75 per year. Visitors and tourists also pay sales tax, so the increase will be shared among many parties.

4. If voters pass the sales tax increase, will it be permanent? No. The ½-percent increase will expire four years after it begins. This is called a “sunset clause,” and was recommended by the Blue Ribbon Budget Committee.

5. How will Ventura’s sales tax stack up against other cities in the area if voters approve the ½-percent increase? In November 2008, voters in Pt. Hueneme and Oxnard voted to increase their general sales tax by ½-percent. Their tax rate – and Santa Barbara’s sales tax rate – is currently 8.75%. If voters approve the increase in Ventura, it would be the same.

6. What will happen if the sales tax increase isn’t passed? The Ventura City Council is committed to living within its means, or as the mayor recently said, “We won’t spend money we don’t have.” That is, if revenue continues to fall as a result of the ongoing national and state financial crises, additional services that the City provides to residents will be cut and staff positions will be reduced.

7. What is Ventura doing to control its own costs? Ventura is taking a long-term approach to controlling costs. The Budgeting for Outcomes (BFO) effort, which produced a spending plan that eliminated $11M from the budget over the next two years, also analyzed every part of city government. To address the issue of public pensions and compensation, the City Council has created a Compensation Task Force that will study and recommend changes to the City’s long-term compensation and pension policies.

8. Was the public involved in the budgeting process? Yes. Implementation of the Budgeting For Outcomes BFO philosophy in the City of Ventura included significant input from a variety of outside sources. On each BFO committee, the process included interested citizens who were active in the community, along with representation from the Chamber of Commerce, valuable partners in Ventura. This diversity of input provided a fresh perspective in allowing a new set of ‘eyes’ to review existing processes and propose new ideas. During the month of March, a Citizen Blue Ribbon Budget Committee held community meetings for the purpose of taking public testimony and making a recommendation to the Ventura City Council as to whether or not a sales tax measure should be placed on the ballot, which it was.

9. Why was the revenue gap so large for Ventura this year, and when did the City Council begin cutting costs? Most significantly, the decline in the economy has resulted in a sharp decrease in sales taxes, particularly for autos. Real estate development has also come to a virtual halt, drying up revenue from permits and building and inspection fees.

In addition, Ventura is an older, full-service community. Independent studies in recent years that compare us to other, similar cities show our per capita spending is about average and our revenues are just below average. We are also more dependent than average on sales and property tax revenue (most comparable cities receive more fee revenue – fees have not been popular in Ventura).

As long ago as March 2008, the City Council and staff implemented a hiring freeze and other cost cutting steps that saved $5 million from the fiscal year budget that ended last June. The City Council cut nearly $4 million from the last fiscal year’s budget, but the economy has continued to worsen beyond all expectations.

10. Is the $11M revenue shortfall due to the potential loss of $10M in Washington Mutual and Lehman Brothers investments? No. This money was invested with both Washington Mutual and Lehman Brothers in long-term notes and was not available until 2011 and 2013. Furthermore, the funds were mostly for large capital projects and were not for daily operations. Thus, any principal losses will not immediately affect city finances.

The projected General Fund income of these notes, $230,000, will not be available this year, however other investments are currently projected to perform better than expected, with the net result of having no affect on this years budget. The City is actively pursuing recovery of the funds through bankruptcy and civil court.

11. What were the City’s priorities for services that were preserved in the budgeting process? In January 2009, the City Council unanimously adopted a set of principles to guide the budget process, and the established the core mission of taking a long-term strategic approach to redesigning Ventura City government.

The overall priority is to emphasize economic prosperity to ensure sustainable funding for necessary city programs and to meet critical needs, including maintaining the high priority City Council has placed on public safety, financial stewardship, streets, and public utilities.

12. What services were affected by the budget cuts? For an overview of what services were affected by budget cuts, visit the budget pages on that City’s website at www.cityofventura.net/budget/letter.

PROPOSED SPENDING PLAN

Public Safety- 40%

Police, Crime Prevention and Gang Suppression 25%

Restoring Police Services: 20%

Keeping Ventura safe remains the primary goal of city government. In order to maintain Ventura as a safe community, the Police Department would restore vital services that have been cut or reduced in the last two years. Responding to emergency calls within 5 minutes 90% of the time and reducing crime and the fear of crime remain the primary goals of the Police Department.

Restore Police Department sworn staffing to 2007-2008 level, adding 6 officers;
Maintain Patrol Deployment, improving response time by 7% and reducing the crime index by 3%;
Restore Patrol Special Response Team, addressing specific quality of life issues and reducing calls for service in identified areas by 15%, including homeless issues downtown;
Enhanced accountability and an improvement in our ability to develop our personnel; and
Restore/Enhance support personnel, including communications, detective support and Crime Prevention/Neighborhood Watch.

Enhance Gang and Property Crime Enforcement - 4%

Our ability to address violent gang crime, property crime and narcotics related incidents require additional staffing. Our juvenile prevention programs and School Resource Officers are vital components of that effort.

Increase staffing of our Special Enforcement Team, continuing our prevention efforts and reducing gang related crime by 15%; and
Increased staffing of our Street Crimes Unit, reducing property crimes and narcotic related crime by 10%.

Enhance Technological ability: 1%

Improving the technological ability of the Department is essential for maximizing our ability to effectively utilize crime analysis and streamline our reporting system.

Obtain a lease agreement with Motorola for RMS/Field Based Reporting system, improving records management and reducing Patrol overtime by 10%.

Fire, Emergency Medical Response and Disaster Preparedness: 15%

The effectiveness of fire and emergency medical response is dramatically improved when units arrive within five minutes of 911 dispatch. In the case of fire, 5-minute response helps contain fires from rapidly spreading. In the case of medical emergency, timely on-scene care has been conclusively shown to save lives. In addition to emergency dispatch, adequate staffing, equipment and facilities are vital to protecting the community from wildland fire, earthquakes, toxic spills and other natural and man-made disasters.

Restore Fire Department sworn staffing to 2007-2008 level, adding three firefighters to improve response times by at least 10%.
Strategically re-deploy the “roving fire crew” (ME10) to enhance our ability to respond to fires and medical emergencies.
Improve response times of paramedics to medical emergencies such as heart attacks and car accidents.
Enhance our ability to respond quickly and effectively to a major wildland fire threatening our City.
Improve our ability to plan for and respond to a major emergency or natural disaster.
Enhance our ability to respond to ocean rescue life safety emergencies.
Enhance accountability and the development of emergency paramedic responders.

Public Works Street Repair, Infrastructure Investment, Transit and Park Maintenance: 35%

Street and pothole repair: 30%

Our streets are a key component of our infrastructure to keep our city mobile and accessible for residents and visitors alike. Funding will be used to take care of our streets and repair potholes and broken sidewalks, as well as reduce traffic through restoring cutbacks in public transit.

Repave local streets, repair potholes and fix broken sidewalks throughout our City to prevent the added cost of more expensive repairs down the road.
Restore public transit bus service to reduce traffic congestion, strengthen local economy by helping workers get to their jobs, and protect the environment by reducing pollution and green house gas emissions.

Park, tree, beach and greenspace maintenance: 5%

This funding will be used to restore maintenance to our public facilities for a cleaner environment and more attractive green infrastructure. This will preserve our parks, urban forest, beachfront areas, medians and wall planters-- an important element of Ventura’s quality of life .

Restore litter pickup throughout Parks and Beach areas from once a week to three times per week.
Expand water conservation efforts by upgrading irrigation systems at Westpark and Arroyo Verde Park.
Repair and replace Marina Park playgrounds instead of removing or cordoning off the area.
Restore our street tree trimming cycle to 4-5 years instead of every 6-7 years to reduce debris and prevent limbs from falling during storms.
Increase our urban forest by planting 300 more trees per year, which results in cleaner air.
Ensure that median and wall planters are free of litter, weeds and trash by restoring regular maintenance from monthly to weekly.

Clean and Safe Beaches and Rivers: 15%

Our goal is to protect and restore Ventura’s coastal waters to safeguard human health, sustain a rich diversity of aquatic wildlife, promote the local economy, and preserve a recreational and aesthetic resource for safe enjoyment by current and future generations. We are also required to meet stringent and costly Federal and State environmental regulations to keep pollution and trash out of rivers and the ocean. To protect our environment and comply with the law, funding will be provided to:

Identify and eliminate sources of water pollution that enter stormdrains.
Provide year-round testing of our beach waters and the urban runoff that enters our stormdrains to ensure the health and safety of residents.
Educate businesses, residents, and school children about the causes of local water pollution and how to prevent it. Increase current outreach by 50%.
Increase inspections of construction sites, businesses and industries by 30% to ensure compliance with regulations that improve stormwater quality.
Reduce litter that enters Ventura’s coastal waterways by adding 30 additional trash cans at bus stops and sidewalks, installing litter screens in 300 stormdrain inlets, and collecting litter in public areas more frequently.
Ensure that new developments eliminate polluted water from entering stormdrains that empty onto our local beaches by establishing and implementing standards that provide additional open space with features such as rain gardens and green roofs to restore groundwater and reduce flooding.
Protect the environment and our primary economic asset by participating in a cooperative effort with local property owners.

Keep Wright Library Open and Safeguard Library Services: 6%

Libraries are essential partners in creating educated communities. Providing opportunities for self-education, life-long learning, and self-improvement, Ventura’s County-run libraries serve as community gathering spaces, institutions of learning, and technological centers to all segments of the population. Libraries also serve as a boost to the local economy: the availability and quality of libraries are part of the package that attracts new business to a community. The Wright Library is in danger of imminent closure due to falling property tax revenue. By supplementing County funding (as many other cities in the County do) we can assure Wright and Ventura’s other two libraries stay open for students, seniors and families.

Save Wright Library from closing.
Improve the books and periodicals collections and special programs at all Ventura libraries, increasing the number of books circulated per capita by 5%.

Maintain and Build Effective Community Partnerships: 4%

Government can’t solve all community problems. Working in partnership with community organizations, charities and neighborhoods is vital to maintain the high quality of life that Ventura citizens desire. Over the years, Ventura has increased its funding to non-profit projects to support the needs of its residents, enrich cultural offerings and enhance the community’s economic climate. In the last year, the City of Ventura reduced all of project funding to local non-profit organizations. These grants have produced cost-effective economic, social, and cultural benefits for our community, by reducing homelessness and joblessness and enhancing cultural and educational opportunities for our youth and citizens.

Funds will be used to:

Restore Social Services Partnership grants to local non-profits providing services for populations in need;
Restore funding for the Ten Year Strategy to End Homelessness, providing services to help keep families in their homes;
Restore Cultural grants to local cultural and educational non-profits; and
Restore cultural and historic programs and community events like movies in the park and re-opening the Albinger Museum.

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