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Goleta Council to Weigh Whether to Shoulder Its Share of Jail Sales Tax
Election season is heating up on the South Coast, and whether voters will support a measure to increase funding for a new jail has yet to be seen. Cities and officials are beginning to back the measure, and the Goleta City Council will be the next to issue or deny its support at a meeting Tuesday.
Whether Goleta will agree to shoulder an unfair burden of the sales tax needed to make the jail a reality has come under discussion. A report issued Thursday that will go before the City Council next week raises that concern.
The report, authored by Vyto Adomaitis, the neighborhood services and public safety director, raises several points of concern to the city.
“Although the city could receive an estimated $353,294 ... use of said monies would be restricted to front-line law enforcement or fire protection services,” the report stated. That could mean the city would have to increase its contract with the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department beyond the 34 full-time positions it currently has in order to receive the money.
“It could not be used to offset future increases in the cost of current level of service,” according to the report.
The report also touches on the ever-present revenue neutrality condition the city is under.
“It can be argued that Goleta is disproportionately subsidizing county services, and another regional tax measure would only work to exacerbate this circumstance,” according to the report.
The county Board of Supervisors voted in July to approve placement of the proposal, also known as Measure S, on the Nov. 2 ballot. The measure requires two-thirds support from the electorate to pass.
The measure is intended to strengthen front-line law enforcement and fire protection within the county and in cities, including Goleta. Abating the county’s jail overcrowding problems is paramount to the measure, and half of the half-cent sales and use tax would be used to construct and operate a 304-bed jail. The tax would go into effect in July and last until 2025.
Goleta, with a population of 30,476, brought in about $3.2 million in sales tax last year, according to City Attorney Tim Giles.
At first glance, it doesn’t appear Goleta would be shouldering an unfair burden. According to financial documents, Santa Maria, with a population of 92,542, brought in $15.9 million in sales taxes last year. Likewise, Santa Barbara brought in $17.8 million in sales tax last year, and a has population of 90,308.
Technically, both cities would pay more per capita in sales tax toward the jail than Goleta. The difference comes with the revenue-neutrality agreement, which orders Goleta to pay half of its sales tax revenues to the county, a burden that neither Santa Barbara nor Santa Maria face. Last year’s $3.2 million in sales tax for the city of Goleta was the amount after the county took its cut.
There’s no staff recommendation at this point, said Giles, adding that Tuesday’s council discussion would be one of policy.
“We’re basically just putting this in front of the City Council to determine whether they support measure or not,” he said.
The City Council received a special presentation from Sheriff Bill Brown on Aug. 10, but it didn’t vote to support the item then. Although there appeared to be a general consensus, according to an earlier Noozhawk story, Mayor Eric Onnen expressed concern.
“(The jail) is intended to be a countywide benefit, so it’s really hard to do a local and regional cost benefit analysis,” Giles said.
Along with county supervisors, the Santa Barbara City Council has issued its support for the measure. The Carpinteria City Council is expected to weigh in on the measure at its Sept. 13 meeting. The Santa Maria City Council hasn’t issued a decision yet either.
— Noozhawk staff writer Lara Cooper can be reached at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
Comments
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» on 09.03.10 @ 08:52 PM
What happened to the part of the half cent sales tax that was supposed to pay for drug treatment and other rehab programs? If it’s all for jails and cops, I’ll vote NO on Measure S.
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» on 09.04.10 @ 07:48 AM
The Police Dept. should not be the front line in the mental illness business. Parents like Rich Detty should be able to call a mental health worker, (not a policeman) to assess their childs mental health. Prisons should not be treatment centers for paranoid schizophrenics. Prison guards should not try to be mental health workers.
I hope Sheriff Brown makes a policy statement to the Board of Supervisor saying that they should not be in the mental health business.
The State and the County would save money if they created the appropriate policies for treating people who have paranoid schizophrenia. The police and prison unions may like the extra business, but it is not healthy for the mentally ill or their employees. A new jail is not needed, a new mental health facility is.
http://www.noozhawk.com/local_news/article/082910_cliff_detty
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» on 09.04.10 @ 12:39 PM
No more new taxes have we lost our government union minds..People they will use it for their high paying government jobs—Say no no no!!!!! No new taxes—Wake up sheep your going off a cliff again..
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» on 09.04.10 @ 12:42 PM
How about rounding yp all the illegals that will save us million each month—less gangs activity is another perk for arresting illegal aliens..Anchor babies are a huge problem—many turn into gang members.
Vote the liberals out—Schneider, Das, Capps, Boxer—its a real mess out here in the real non union world..
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» on 09.05.10 @ 11:21 AM
No, no, no!
The gov’t pensions are robbing us blind. Instead of paying outlandish money to pensions our “leaders” should vote to build jails, build/repair roads, fund health, fund schools, fund libraries, fund parks, as well as every other public need. Instead our “leaders” continue to fund outlandish salaries, benefit and pensions. They also divert funds from schools and safety for the RDA to build bulb outs and brick sidewalks.
What is wrong with the crazy town of Santa Barbara? It as if we vote te lowest possible IQ humans to run our local gov’t.
Hopefully the good land people running Goleta will have some common sense and say NO
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