On March 5 Westminster voters will get to decide whether to increase their sales tax – again. On Nov. 8, 2022, they approved Measure Y, which extended for another 20 years a 1% sales tax from 2016, Measure SS.
This year’s initiative will be for an additional 0.50%. If it passes, that will be 1.5% of taxes OK’d in 16 months. The city’s tax rate then would rise from the current 8.75% to 9.25%. The measure was put on the ballot by a 4-0 vote of the City Council: Mayor Chi Charlie Nguyen and Councilmembers Amy Phan West, Carlos Manzo and Kimberly Ho. Vice Mayor NamQuam Nguyen was not present.
“As a 35-year resident and for as far as I can remember, the city has always been at a financial disadvantage,” Manzo told us. “We have a low property tax rate that cannot be changed, and funds taken away by the state have left us in financial crisis. We have always known that 1% was never enough to make us whole, but we are at risk of losing this half cent to another agency. If this happens, we lose our opportunity to finally flourish as a city.”
Currently, California imposes a 7.25% statewide sales tax, and allows another 3.5% maximum added by cities and counties; or 10.75% total. Orange County adds just 0.50% for local Measure M transportation funds, giving us the current county rate of 7.75%. Because O.C. votes still largely are anti-tax, and there are no proposals to increase the county tax, the idea Westminster could “lose” the potential to increase taxes doesn’t fly. As to the state not returning revenues, most of that was from ending disastrous redevelopment programs.
The city does have financial problems. According to former state Sen. John Moorlach’s June analysis of the Annual Comprehensive Financial Reports of O.C.’s 34 cities, Westminster ranked 28th, with an unrestricted net deficit of $1,067 per capita. But Huntington Beach was 30th, at $1,132; and Costa Mesa was 34th, last, at $2,026. Moorlach told us, “Westminster is not at the very bottom and their per capita ranking is half that of Costa Mesa. Yet I don’t see Costa Mesa crying.”
The new tax is supposed to raise $8 million a year. But will it? It gives the city a disadvantage against its neighbors. In Huntington Beach and Costa Mesa, despite their worse financial positions, the sales tax rate is 7.75%. If the new tax passes, Westminster’s will be 1.5% more, repelling shoppers.
And consider city salaries. According to Transparent California, tops in 2022 was Deputy Police Chief Cameron Knauerhaze at $487,769 in pay and benefits. Eight other officers that year were above $400,000, what President Biden makes.
Westminster residents also will be paying more in 2024 for state gas and income taxes. And inflation still is digging in. The city is far from going bankrupt. It needs to tighten its belt and pass pension and other employee compensation reforms. On March 5, voters need to say: Read our lips, no new taxes.
Editor’s note: This editorial has been corrected to identify Measure Y as the measure approved in 2022, a continuation of Measure SS.
