Santa Barbara City Councilwoman Alejandra Gutierrez flipped her vote and decided to support placing a sales tax measure on the November ballot.

Gutierrez a week ago said she could not support placing the measure on the ballot because her Eastside District 1 had not been properly surveyed. However, on Tuesday, Gutierrez not only changed her vote, but seconded the motion by Councilman Eric Friedman.

She offered no explanation at the meeting but told Noozhawk afterward that her position on the sales tax still stands.

“I don’t believe in the sales tax,” Gutierrez said. “It’s a regressive tax that will have a greater impact in my district than other districts in the city. I have accepted the fact that I am in the minority, however. I will continue to participate in the process to bring the ballot measure to the voters.”

The city wants to increase the sales tax from 8.75% to 9.25% to help pay for public safety, housing and homelessness, parks, recreation, library services and other items.

The election is Nov. 3. The measure needs 50.1% to pass.

Santa Barbara OKs Budget

The City Council approved its $577 million budget at Tuesday’s meeting.

The vote was mostly a formality after weeks of discussion. The council last week stopped city staff’s plan to dramatically overhaul parking fees. Earlier in the budget season, the staff proposed reducing free parking in lots and downtown streets from 75 minutes to 15 minutes. In garages, the free time was proposed to go from 75 minutes to 60 minutes.

The community and members of the council rejected the proposal. Councilwoman Kristen Sneddon even wanted to extend free time to 90 minutes, but after initial support, her colleagues backed away.

The city staff is expected to bring the downtown parking discussion back in a few months. Part of that discussion includes making the downtown parking fund part of the general fund, which means it is subsidized by sales tax and transient occupancy taxes.

Currently, the Downtown Parking Fund is an “enterprise fund,” which means it is supposed to pay for itself through slip and parking fees. The fund, however, has a $3.1 million deficit, largely because fewer people are driving and parking downtown.

The council spent some time on Tuesday talking about its proposal to increase harbor slip fees by 10%. The fee increase passed, but Councilwomen Meagan Harmon and Kristen Sneddon voted no on that part of the budget because they wanted fees to rise by only 5%.