UPDATE: It looks like there will be NO public safety tax proposal on the November ballot, and NO general sales tax proposal. The good guys on the council were able to thwart the sham of a “public safety” tax proposal and the Mayor and his allies defeated the general sales tax plan which actually could have done some good. Back to drawing board.
The San Jose City Council is poised to vote on a sales tax proposal under the guise that the revenue generated will be used to reduce skyrocketing crime. In reality, the tax increase has so many strings attached to it there is little likelihood the revenue will ever be collected. The scheme for a quarter-cent sales tax increase enables its supporters to claim they are doing something about the City’s out-of-control crime, when in fact a closer look at the proposal shows they are not.
The special public safety sales tax increase is proposed by Mayor Chuck Reed and Councilmembers Sam Liccardo, Rose Herrera and Pete Constant, and it’s an attempt to fool San Jose voters into thinking they’re finally concerned about fixing the City’s overwhelming crime problem.
“The Mayor and his Council allies continue to be in denial that the root cause of San Jose losing 400 police officers and residents experiencing 20 minute 9-1-1 response times is the fact that they can’t work with their own employees to come up with real solutions to the failed Measure B,” said Ben Field, Executive Officer of the South Bay Labor Council, “What they came up with is yet another flawed plan to give themselves political cover for the mess they’ve made.”
The San Jose Police Officers Association, San Jose Fire Fighters, IAFF Local 230, and other city workers also reject this disingenuous tax scheme.
“What Mayor Reed and Councilmembers Liccardo, Herrera, and Constant don’t understand is that more money is not the answer, fixing the disastrous Measure B is,” said Jim Unland, President of the SJPOA. “Instead of admitting Measure B was a mistake, these politicians want to hide their failure behind a tax increase that will not improve our retention and recruiting deficit.”
A strong majority of voters polled say they support a general city sales tax increase that would improve public safety and bring in funds to improve other vital city services including increasing library and community center hours to help keep kids out of gangs; improving park maintenance, recreational opportunities and after school programs; and repairing our deteriorating roads. Mayor Reed and Mayoral hopeful Liccardo oppose the general tax proposal for city services.
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