City of Novato Sales Tax Extension and Reduction, Measure C (November 2015)
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| Measure info Amount: 0.25% |
A sales tax question, Measure C, was on the ballot for Novato voters in Marin County, California, on November 3, 2015. It was approved.
Measure C authorized the city to extend its sales tax and reduced it from 0.5 percent to 0.25 percent. The revenue from the tax continued to go into the city's general fund to be used for any government purpose. Without the approval of Measure C, Novato's local sales tax was designed to expire in 2015.[1]
City voters approved the city's 0.5 percent sales tax in 2010 by voting "yes" on Measure F. Measure F raised the total sales tax paid by city residents to 9 percent—7.5 percent mandated by the state, 1 percent levied by the county and the 0.5 percent city tax. Because voters approved Measure C, the total sales tax rate paid by city residents dropped to 8.75 percent. If voters had rejected Measure C, the total sales tax rate paid by city residents would have dropped to 8.5 percent when the city's sales tax expired.[2]
Election results
| Novato, Measure C | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Result | Votes | Percentage | ||
 Yes | 8,121 | 73.71% | ||
| No | 2,897 | 26.29% | ||
- Election results from Marin County Elections Office
Text of measure
Ballot question
The following question appeared on the ballot:[1]
| “ |
To continue funding, that cannot be taken by the State, for general city services including, but not limited to, protecting neighborhood police patrols, 9-1-1 emergency response, crime prevention/gang intervention services; fixing potholes, streets, parks; attracting/retaining qualified police officers; supporting the local economy/increasing jobs; and providing youth, senior, recreation programs, shall the City of Novato extend the existing voter approved sales tax, reducing the rate from ½ cent to ¼ cent, requiring oversight and audits?[3] |
” |
Support
City officials said Measure C would help "to maintain essential services and the City’s fiscal stability, while reducing existing tax rates."[4]
The Marin Democratic Party endorsed a "yes" vote on Measure C.[5]
Opposition
Novato resident Ray Schneider advised voters against passing Measure C. Schneider argued that the city should learn fiscal responsibility and that continuing to authorize any local sales tax would just enable bad fiscal practices. An excerpt of Schneider's comments is below:
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Since the city cannot balance its budget with the half-cent increase, it certainly will not be able to do so with a quarter-cent increase. [...] The only way to ensure that budget structures are revisited is to vote against tax increases. The first order of business is to fix the problem. [...] So now the voters must weigh in, which is helpful, except that City Manager Michael Frank will push hard on the theme of “service reductions ... it’s as simple as that” to alarm voters into passing the tax increase. While reductions in service may or may not be true, it is far more important, first and foremost, to fix a budget system that for 2015-16 shows expenditures exceeding revenues by over $1 million.[3] |
” |
| —Ray Schneider[6] | ||
Path to the ballot
On July 23, 2015, the Novato City Council unanimously voted to put Measure C on the ballot.[4]
Related measures
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Novato sales tax Measure C. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
- Local sales tax on the ballot
- Marin County, California ballot measures
- November 3, 2015 ballot measures in California
- Sales tax in California
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Marin County Elections Office, “Measure C ballot question text,” accessed September 8, 2015
- ↑ Sale-tax.com, "Novato, California," accessed September 8, 2015
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Novato City Government, "A City That Works," accessed September 8, 2015
- ↑ Marin Democratic Party, "2015 Endorsements," accessed September 14, 2015
- ↑ Marin Independent Journal, "Marin IJ Readers’ Forum for Aug. 4," August 3, 2015
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