Last weekend’s opinion piece by Chamber of Commerce CEO Matt Mahood explaining that the Chamber might not oppose a badly needed tax increase in San Jose is a good sign. Anyone who pays attention to what’s going on in the City can see that it desperately needs more money just to pay for essential services like police, firefighters, libraries and street repair. And anyone who pays attention to the City’s polling on tax measures can see that passing a sales tax measure in the face of well funded opposition would be difficult, so it’s a good thing that the Chamber might not fight the measure.
But before anyone commits themselves to a difficult, expensive campaign to raise money for essential City services a number of conditions will have to exist:
–A tax increase by itself will not stop the flight of the City’s police, firefighters and other valuable employees. There is widespread recognition that Measure B’s crazy provisions that victimize employees who are disabled on the job will have to be fixed. In addition to a tax increase there needs to be legal retirement reform.
–The City has a structural deficit that precedes its unfunded pension liabilities, which were caused by the recession. The simple fact is that the City’s tax base has long been insufficient to pay for essential services. If we are going to go to the trouble of raising taxes, the amount should be sufficient to pay for those essential services.
–The timing of the tax measure has to be right. Our best chance of passing a tax measure is in a general election, but other measures and candidates may complicate efforts to increase the sales tax.
–Finally, we need more than a statement that the Chamber might not fight a tax increase, and we will need some commitment, not only by the Chamber, but by its PAC, which is not always on the same page with the Chamber.
Two years ago, the County Board of Supervisors courageously put a measure on the ballot to raise sales taxes to pay for essential County services, while the City of San Jose stood by and watched as we won that campaign. Because of Mayor Reed inability to lead, the City missed a chance to provide the services residents need.
The Labor Movement may be willing to devote time, energy and resources to a campaign to raise money for City services, but not if the conditions aren’t right. The City would be far better off waiting than seeing a flawed campaign for a tax that is an incomplete solution to the City’s problems.
Ben Field is the Executive Officer of the South Bay AFL-CIO Labor Council.
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As a City employee, who will not have a problem marketing CSJ-trained talents and skills to other agencies and municipalities, I will not offer any support to this mayor or council for any tax increase, even if it is to restore city services.
Every City and agency in Santa Clara County has no problem offering a competitive salary and benefits package to their employees, many of which were former CSJ employees. The alleged pension problem in San Jose is Reeds handler’s own creation to market Reed for other political offices.