Concord’s Measure Q – Starts on April 1

Concord's voter approved half-cent increase in the sales tax (Measure Q) goes into effect on April 1.

The Board of Equalization has sent this special notice to all businesses required to collect and file tax reports with them. The notice lists all jurisdictions that will be changing their sales tax rate.

The increase in the sales tax will last five years and is expected to generate approximately $8 million dollars per year. These funds will be used to protect core city services and replenish the city's budget reserves. The additional revenue will not be used to restore city services or staff positions cut over the past two years as the city worked to balance its budget against declining revenues.

In approving the temporary sales tax increase (Measure Q) the voters also directed the City Council to appoint an Oversight Committee. In January 2011 the Council decided the Oversight Committee should consist of seven members – 4 residents, 2 Concord business people (who may not live in Concord) and 1 who could be either a resident or business person. The Council is expected to interview and appoint the initial Oversight Committee sometime in the next month.

I have applied to serve on the Oversight Committee because I would like to ensure the commitments the city made to Concord voters about the use and temporary nature of the additional sales tax are kept.

I know tax increases are unpopular. The alternative – further cuts in city services after two years of program reductions, staff reductions and employee compensation concessions would also be unpopular.

The new sales tax revenue will give the city some flexibility as it struggles with yet another "take-away" by the state with the near certain elimination of redevelopment agencies in this year's state budget package. I hope our legislators work with Governor Brown to create a new mechanism voters can approve to fund a new style of redevelopment and/or economic development efforts.

I appreciate the vision Concord voter's expressed when they passed Measure Q last November. Now it will be important to see that the new revenue is used properly to stabilize city services and replenish our budget reserve – so that in five years we are prepared when this revenue source expires.

http://www.PulseOfConcord.com EdiBirsan

I am curious if it is your view that the Measure Q money could be used to replace the salary items charged to the ReDevelopment Agency (RDA)?

Further do you feel that the money could be used for supporting the event structure at Todos Santos that were charged to the RDA?

Is it your view that the money is dedicated to the closing of the gap in the structural deficit as it existed in the current 2010-11 budget and the over flow being for reserve to cover future deficits?

If the prohibition is to not restore cuts made in the last two years, does it then not apply to cut programs such as the RDA that occur after the last two years?

While I am sure that there is flexibility in the structure, the questions are really what does it mean in the confines of the issues above?

Edi

PS care to craft some questions on the matter for the next run of the Pulse Of Concord survey site (www.PulseOfConcord.com)?
http://profile.typepad.com/guybjerke Guy Bjerke

In my view the basic premise of Measure Q was to pass a revenue measure that would prevent further cuts to core city services.

The elimination of redevelopment agency funding by the state was not even on the radar when Measure Q was developed. In fact, most people thought redevelopment agency funding had been protected from future state raids by the passage of Prop. 22 in November 2010. Governor Brown’s budget proposal sidesteps Prop. 22 by not raiding redevelopment, but killing it entirely.

Some, but not all, of the city services currently underwritten in part by redevelopment dollars should be deemed “core” and saved through the use of Measure Q revenues. Exactly which services or programs those are will certainly be the subject of future budget discussions and, ultimately, decided by the City Council.