Voters Across OC Are Considering Tax Increases This Year
Voters in a host of Orange County cities will decide at the ballot box in November if they want to raise the taxes they pay to dig out their cities from deficits that are millions of dollars deep.
It comes as city officials this summer warn of a poor fiscal outlook – one that is threatening to decimate public services like police and fire, city events and local libraries – as spending on things like public safety outpaces revenues.
Samuel Stone, a professor of public administration at Cal State University, Fullerton, said the need to generate more revenue is not just an OC problem but a statewide problem.
“Cities are kind of running short on levers to pull in terms of what kinds of development to allow, what they can allow given how voters feel about things. And so if they don’t have that lever to pull, the other lever is we raise tax rates on the things that will generate us increased revenue on the development that’s already here,” Stone said.
https://voiceofoc.org/2024/08/voters-across-oc-are-considering-tax-increases-this-year/