Page 14 - Mid Valley Times 8-29-19 E-edition

Thursday, August 29, 2019
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Mid Valley TiMes
City of Reedley / Graphics Contributed
These two graphic charts show the city of Reedley's financial situation during the next five budget years. The chart at the top shows what the city's finances would look like without a tax measure. The above chart shows the city's fis- cal situation if voters pass a three-quarters cent sales tax in March 2020. The $1 million figure circled in the graphic shows that the city would receive the revenue, enabling the budget to be balanced for at least three years.
SALES TAX Continued from page A1
the difference between a balanced budget and a deficit for the 2020-2021 fiscal year.
Paul Melikian, assis- tant city manager, said that the city is looking at proposing a general sales tax measure of three- quarters of a cent, but an- other option is a half cent sales tax. The measure — which would be the first for Reedley since voters approached Measure G in 2008 — would not solely be for public safety (law enforcement and fire.
"Actually, what we're doing is we're respond- ing to a recent poll that we did out in the commu- nity with voters," Meliki- an told The Times. "The community's priorities were public safety, but they were also for road construction, facility and the general upkeep of city facilities. Filling potholes was almost as big a prior- ity as public safety."
That poll taken among a sampling of voters showed about 72 percent support — which would be well above the two-thirds threshold needed to pass a tax measure.
At the Aug. 27 meet- ing, City Manager Ni- cole Zieba and Melikian told the council that the resolution only is to as- sure that if there is a vote on a tax measure, it would be in March. The city still has until the end of September to decide the type of tax measure (half-cent or three-quar-
ter cent), whether there will be a sunset clause in the measure or even if the city wants to proceed with a tax measure at all.
"This is not done very easily. We feel we've been very good stew- ards," Melikian told The Times. "What we talked about in the presentation was that the city staff has worked very hard to not have to do a tax. We've been reducing where we can. We've been operat- ing as efficiently as pos- sible and as we shared with the council, we're only asking for this mon- ey at the exact moment that it's needed."
On Aug. 27, Zieba told the council that "it was stronger about main- taining what we had than adding anything to [city services]" with a tax. She told the council that the city only keeps 11 cents out of each dol- lar in sales tax, and six cents also comes from the Measure G funding.
"Paul and I are prob- ably the biggest personal anti-tax people I know. But we're not voters in this city. And the voters spoke through that poll," she said. "At any given time, the council can say 'no' and not move forward, and at any time they can take that next step."
The council — while showing their own gen- eral disdain for taxing the public — said the gravity of the situa- tion and the fact that this measure's funding would remain local was the main reason for their support.
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