After a final vote by the Turlock City Council on Tuesday night, all that stands in the way of a half-cent sales tax to benefit roads is a two-thirds approval on the November ballot.
As expected, councilmembers approved a resolution to move forward with the road tax that is expected to generate about $5.6 million annually, or about $39.2 million over the seven-year life of the tax. Each quadrant of the city is expected to see some repairs each year.
A 4-1 majority approved the placement of the road tax on the Nov. 4 ballot. Councilmember Amy Bublak cast the lone no vote; Bublak previously argued that residents are facing rising costs in other areas, so a new tax is something she did not support.
The road tax will move forward without the inclusion of a clause that would have diverted some generated revenue from the tax to the city’s bus system after councilmembers voted down the inclusion of the clause on May 27.
“It doesn’t mix up transit into it,” Councilmember Forrest White previously said. “We can deal with transit on a separate basis when the issue comes up.”
The initially-proposed road tax would have devoted 2 percent of revenues to the City of Turlock’s bus system. With 100 percent of the revenues going to roads, the City will now have to find a way to replace approximately $60,000 per year for the bus system from another source.
It will cost roughly $30,000 to place the road tax on the Nov. 4 ballot, Turlock City Manager Roy Wasden said.
The half-cent sales tax to generate funds for road repairs will require a two-thirds vote from Turlock voters to pass in November.
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We should be supporting a public safety tax because all of our police officers are underpaid compared to other cities and leaving. Go through this website and you’ll see all the crime and why we need more public safety. This is a bad economy and that means more crime. This is not the time for taxes but if I were to pay more taxes it should be for police and fire.
So if the police are over paid in other nearby cities…should we over pay our police to keep up with other over paid law enforcement. I think not. That model is unsustainable. The city needs to balance their budget without more and more and more taxes to our citizens
No more taxes! Politicians need to live within their means and stop overspending.
How many times has this road tax failed? The council is wasting more tax payer money by spending $30,000 to put it on the ballot when they know it won’t pass again.
I’m surprised Amy Bublak went against this. I thought she was bought by the Turlock Chamber of Commerce who supports this that makes the poor give the rich more tax money for their business construction projects and things like dog parks named after their family.
Bublak is supported by business owners who don’t need government subsidies like the John Lazar cronies.
Any business person knows that government wastes money. Government projects cost double over private projects because of insider deals.
Truth is that this tax will hurt Turlock because it is a sales tax. Shoppers will not want to pay more in sales tax and in turn businesses that look to open in Turlock will not.
It’s time we so something. We have to start somewhere and sometime and I’m getting tired of my car suspension getting thrown out of alignment on all the pot holes. I’ll vote for it because I don’t see any other choices.