Two Tax Increase Extension Measures Overwhelmingly Passed by Voters

Hercules residents this week overwhelmingly voted in support of extending tax measures that local leaders believe are helping revive the city after it was laid low by fiscal challenges. Measure B and Measure C - Contra Costa County’s only ballot items Tuesday - required just a simple majority to pass, but each received more than 70 percent of the vote, according to finalized election figures.

Neither introduced new taxes, but instead continued tax increases that city officials claim helped Hercules avoid insolvency as it faced a $9 million deficit. Measure B authorized the city to indefinitely continue a half-cent sales tax increase approved in June 2012. Seventy-five percent of voters supported it, according to the city’s final counts.

About the same percentage of voters approved the original increase, Measure O, which was set to expire in October 2016. Measure C authorized the city to continue until 2025 a five-year 2 percent addition to the city’s utility user tax rate, which built on a 6 percent increase passed in 2004. Similar to the vote for the 2 percent increase in 2013, 72 percent of the voters supported Measure C. The measures only brought out 22 percent of the city’s 12,206 registered voters on Tuesday.

The funds generated by the extended tax increases - an estimated $2 million per year - can be used for any governmental services in Hercules. Prior to the vote, city officials highlighted the potential for it to be applied to police, street maintenance, and business attraction efforts.

By Bay City News

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