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No On Measure C
Measure C, if passed by voters, will raise the sales tax in Mendocino County by 0.5% for ten years.
The sales tax is about the most regressive way to raise funds for government, apart from taxes that the rich are exempt from. Given that consumers in the county (and nationwide) are on very tight budgets, Measure C will take pennies from our lowest income citizens and redistribute them to the county's wealthiest bureaucrats. Obliged to pay for promised pensions and benefits, the county is looking forward to years of cutting services to citizens. Unless the economy grows at a rapid pace, starting soon, and continuing for decades.
Measure C will pay for pension levels that should never have been promised, but its proponents want you to think it will go to pay for services that have been cut back and are missed, like libraries, animal shelters, and the sheriff's department, as well as the layoffs that have been made in almost every department.
Because money is tight, Measure C will reduce retail sales (excluding items exempt from sales tax) by about 0.5 percent. Which means about 0.5% less hours for retail workers, including restaurant workers. It will kill two retail worker full-time job equivalents for every county worker it provides funds to rehire. And even that is assuming the pension problem will just be put off until it bankrupts the county.
This is what needs to be done, and what citizens need to tell the Board of Supervisors they want done. The pension system for county workers needs to be changed to a defined contribution system. That means the county puts in an amount of money each year it can afford. How much of a pension workers get from it depends partly on how well the money is invested in the interim. Contributions going forward need to take into account how much tax revenue is going to be needed to pay off pension obligations foolishly made in the past.
If that were fixed, I could support looking at how to raise money to restore county services to an appropriate level. The best bet would be leaving sales tax at its already oppressive level (8.25% in the county, 8.75% in the cities) and working at improving the economy of Mendocino County. More sales creates more sales tax without increasing the sales tax rate. Let's try that.
More information:
No on C campaign
Yes on C campaign (can't find it yet)
Text of Mendocino Measure C
William P. Meyers, editor. October 6, 2010
