The Hemet City Council voted unanimously last week to place a 1% sales tax measure on November’s ballot, which would make the city’s tax rate the highest in the county if approved.
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“This…represents an important step in the council’s ongoing efforts to address the city’s long-term financial sustainability, while maintaining the essential services our residents rely on every day,” Noah Rau, interim city manager, said at the July 14 meeting, noting that the city’s costs had grown much faster than its revenue.
This year, the city adopted a budget with a roughly $4 million structural deficit, though Rau said many of the cost-cutting measures used to bring down the deficit to that level were not sustainable long-term. Other challenges included the cost to address ongoing street repair projects and increased calls for fire and EMS.
Before bringing the issue to the council, the city conducted a feasibility study, which found that the majority of residents — at least 59% in each of the council districts — would support the measure.
“Every one of us in that room were absolutely shocked at the results that came back, and that our citizens understand the need that we have at this point,” Mayor Linda Krupa, who sat on the ad hoc committee, said. “It was so across the board that it was absolutely mind blowing to hear the results of the polling.”
Rick Lindsey, who spoke at the meeting, said he was unsure if the measure would pass due to other financial pressures residents were feeling. And while he said he understood the need for additional revenue in the city, he implored the council to start with a smaller amount, recommending a 0.25% increase.
“When you start high, and you don’t get it, you wish you would have gone low,” he said.
Earlier this year, the Riverside City Council asked voters to both increase its sales tax rate from 8.75% to 9% and extend that sales tax indefinitely as part of Measure Z. Voters overwhelmingly rejected the effort.
“I’m not one for raising taxes, but this is not me raising taxes,” Mayor Pro Tem Joe Males said before casting his vote. “This is the people making the decision whether they want to raise the tax, so I’m going to vote yes to give them the decision on what they want to do.”
If approved, this will be the city’s second active sales tax increase. In 2016, voters approved Measure U, a 1% sales tax increase that brought the city’s sales tax rate to 8.75%. In 2022, voters approved Measure H, which extended the 2016 sales tax increase indefinitely.
This measure, though unrelated to Measure U, would function much the same way in that the proceeds from the increased sales tax would go to the city’s general fund, to be spent at the council’s discretion, and be subject to citizen oversight.
If a simple majority of voters approve the measure on November 3, the 1% sales tax increase is expected to go into effect next April and is estimated to generate an additional $16 million annually.
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