No April Fools' Joke: City Sales Tax Rises to 10.25% April 1

With a new local sales tax rate of 10.25 percent taking effect April 1, El Cerrito and Union City now have the highest sales tax among all California cities outside of Los Angeles County.

Faced with warnings from El Cerrito city officials that a looming budget deficit would reduce safety and city services, El Cerrito voters in November approved Measure R to boost the city's sales tax rate to 10.25 percent from 9.75 percent.

Union City voters in Alameda County also approved a new rate of 10.25 percent, up from 9.75 percent, effective today.

Statewide, 13 cities are seeing boosts in the local sales tax because of voter-approved increases in November, according to the California State Board of Equalization (see accompanying table).

In addition, voters in Sonoma County approved a tax hike for the Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District, but an existing sales tax for the Sonoma Open Space Authority expired at the same time, so the county's sales tax rate remains the same at 9 percent.

Two cities in Los Angeles County, Santa Monica and South El Monte, pushed their sales tax to 10.25 percent in the November election,  giving that county seven cities with local sales taxes above 10 percent. Two of them, Pico Rivera and South Gate, have rates of 10.75 percent, the highest in the state. The lowest rate in the state is 8.25 percent, found in many small localities. (One of the two accompanying tables shows the sales tax rates for all California cities.)

Outside of Los Angeles County, the only other city in the state besides El Cerrito and Union City to reach the 10-percent club is San Leandro, where voters boosted the levy to 10 percent from 9.75 percent.

Not all cities approved proposed sales tax hikes on the November ballot. Half Moon Bay voters rejected their Measure K, called "The Vital City Services Measure," which would have raised the tax to 10.25 from 9.25 percent.

El Cerrito's Measure R, approved by 58 percent of the voters, expires after seven years.