Former Gilroy mayor and current Santa Clara County Supervisor
Don Gage says he’ll vote yes for tax on Tuesday
Santa Clara County Supervisor Don Gage said Friday he will support a new half-cent sales tax to fund county services and that he expects some of the revenue to be used for transportation projects, possibly including a new BART line to San Jose.
“This is the first time we’ve asked,” Gage said. “Without some assistance, we’re not going to be able to provide services to our residents.”
The measure would only need a simple 50-percent-plus-one majority vote to pass, and would have no expiration date. If passed, the tax would pump the sales tax to 8.75 percent, making Santa Clara and Alameda counties tied for the highest tax rates in the Bay Area. On a $25,000 automobile purchase, that translates to an extra $2,187.50 for the consumer.
“It’s going to take everybody,” Gage said. “All the cities, the county, the leadership group. Everybody will have to support the half-cent tax and work together to define the needs of the county and how to finance them.”
The tax ballot measure that county supervisors are expected to approve Tuesday and put before voters in June does not specifically include money for BART, rail projects, highway projects or other Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority projects, but Gage compared the initiative to Measure A/B, a 1996 sales tax measure controlled by the county but used for VTA projects.
“The important point is local control. There will be money for social services and transportation,” Gage said. “The bottom line is we’ve got to work together. Everybody has the same constituency. We’re all working for the same people.”
Gage stressed that no deal has been made to funnel potential sales tax revenue to the VTA, but said the tax measure will need the support from VTA board members and their cities if it is to pass.
He said the support of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, a business consortium that is a strong BART backer, will also be critical. The leadership group financed the Measure A/B campaign and the campaign for Measure A, a half-cent tax to build the $4.7 billion BART project and other transportation improvements that was passed in 2000. Its president, Carl Guardino, attended a ceremony in Gilroy Friday to herald the unveiling of a long-awaited stoplight in front of Gilroy Foods on Highway 152, but he declined to comment for this story.
Gage’s board colleagues did not return call seeking comment. The county is facing a budget deficit of $116 million for the fiscal year that begins July 1, but the deficit could drop significantly the following year, to about $55 million. A half-cent sales tax would raise about $164 million annually, according to county officials.
County Executive Pete Kutras said the extra money could be diverted for VTA projects, but could also be used to restore county services to the levels of flush economic times. In the last four years, the county has made $273 million worth of reductions in various departments.
“There are clearly places we would recommend to consider spending it,” Kutras said, mentioning the offices of the sheriff, district attorney and public defender. “They may want to look at road repair and pavement management issues. There’s a balance there, and they’re going to have to make these decisions if it passes.”
A countywide tax will put the brakes on the VTA’s plans for its own tax to build BART. Last year, the five San Jose representatives on the 12-member VTA board led a coalition that was ready to take the BART tax to the voters, but in the last few months, cities that would not be served by the new BART line have rallied against the agency’s spending plans, and recent polls funded by the leadership group suggested the tax would fall shy of the two-thirds majority needed to pass it.
Friday, San Jose City Council members who also serve on the VTA board conceded they are now somewhat at the mercy of county supervisors.
David Cortese, who is running for mayor, said he will support the countywide tax if it appears to benefit the region. He said a campaign in support of the tax should not promise BART because that would conjure images of backroom deals.
“I don’t know yet if I support it, but if it’s good enough for the other 14 cities in the county, it should be good enough for San Jose,” Cortese said. “It does take a huge leap of faith [that county supervisors will fund the VTA], and I’m not there yet. There needs to be an assumption that San Jose gets its needs met along the way, but we have to shut up and trust the process. People are already walking a very fine line on this.”
The VTA is set to approve its spending plan for a new tax on Thursday. Cortese said he will lean toward delaying that decision if the county goes forward with its tax, but Councilman Forrest Williams said he thinks the agency should approve the plan and act as though it will eventually see new tax revenue.
“It’s an advantage to the county to have a good transportation system as well as the city,” Williams said. “I’m willing to take that risk. We should go ahead with the expenditure plan we’ve got, banking on dollars we’ll get from the supervisors.”
