Public Comment Tax Increase
1. The survey designed to get the desired results was yet another waste of taxpayers’ money by the council. Larry has mentioned, multiple times, you don’t need to waste time and money on a survey because, historically, the people of Sebastopol have always vote for tax increases.
2. The survey did show 70% of the respondents think managing the city’s finances is very important but only 9% are satisfied with how they are managed. It seems as if a lot of taxpayers ARE paying attention.
3. What people care about is police, fire and roads.
4. The ballot reads… “As a general tax, the proceeds would be deposited into the General Fund and may be used for any lawful purpose, as designated by the City Council, including maintaining public safety response, fire protection, emergency preparedness, safe roads and streets maintenance, City parks/trails, the library, youth and senior services, as well as other services.
5. If you want this to pass, it should be a specific tax to be used only for police and roads as we are already going to receive a $260.00 parcel tax for fire, in addition to what we are already paying for Sebastopol Fire.
This is an incredibly broad range of what the money can be used for. Basically, whatever the council comes up with whether it’s in keeping with the taxpayers wishes want or not.
This time the tax increase just might not pass.
Mary Cone
Sebastopol Taxpayer