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Mountain View’s bid to shore up more funding for its top priorities is headed towards victory, with early results showing an overwhelming majority of voters backing Measure G.
Support for Measure G was leading with 14,621 (72%) votes counted in Mountain View, according to the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters as of 4:48 p.m. Thursday afternoon.
Measure G, a city-initiated tax measure, will raise the property transfer tax on residential and commercial properties that sell for more than $6 million. It is expected to add about $9.5 million annually to the city’s coffers – a much-needed boost as Mountain View is facing a projected budget deficit and declining revenues.
“We need smart, progressive revenue measures like these,” said City Council member Alison Hicks, who expressed delight that the community was backing Measure G so strongly after the initial results were released on Tuesday evening.
Currently, Mountain View’s property transfer tax is $3.30 per $1,000. Measure G will increase this to $15 per $1,000 on properties that exceed $6 million in value.
But while Measure G is cruising to victory, it faced initial opposition from community members earlier this year. Residents did not agree with the city’s spending priorities, as a majority of the funding was earmarked for a new public safety building. At public meetings, they spoke about other equally important needs in the city, like funding for affordable housing, parks and bicycle and pedestrian safety improvements.
An opposition group, Mountain View Residents for a Bright Future, also pressed for more accountability and transparency with how the money would be spent, and issued a call for “no blank checks.”
Responding to these concerns, the City Council tweaked its spending priorities to provide a better balance among different spending categories. The largest allocation of the tax revenue will go towards a public safety building (35%-40%), but is closely followed by parks, open space and biodiversity initiatives (30%-35%), affordable housing (20%-25%) and other government services (5%-15%).
The City Council also put in safeguards to not “superfund” the public safety building in case of a revenue windfall. A public hearing will be called to consider a reallocation of the tax revenue if there is a shortfall as well. A two-thirds majority from the council is required to amend or repeal the goals and spending priorities for Measure G.
Mountain View Residents for a Bright Future viewed these changes favorably and stated that it would support the tax measure, and encouraged others to do so as well.
“While by no means perfect, this new allocation is a vast improvement over the previous plan,” the organizers said in a letter published by the Voice on Oct. 26.
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We’ll all be paying this tax eventually (within 20 years at current rates). Pulled a good fast one over the citizens. What are they going to do with all that extra money when the PSB is paid for? hmmmmm.. What a money grab….paid for by the new residents of Mountain View.
I don’t know how these ballots are legal. They tax a minority — so everybody votes to take other people’s money. Ballots should pass when they have the majority votes of the people who are affected! Otherwise, where is the limit? There are so many ways of making just a minority pay. What next, a school bond paid only by families with 3+ children?