Measure P Seeks To Increase Sales Tax By 1% In Desert Hot Springs

Voters in Desert Hot Springs will decide whether or not the city will be allowed to increase its sales tax rate this Election Day.

“We’re in need of additional revenue,” said Deputy City Manager Doria Wilms in an interview with The Riverside Record. “Over the last several years, we have seen a significant drop in our cannabis tax revenue…so as those revenues have dropped, the city’s needs for a certain level of quality of life and city services need to be maintained.”

If approved by a majority of voters, Measure P would allow the city council to adopt a 1% increase to its sales tax, bringing the city’s rate to 8.75% and generating an estimated $2.4 million in additional revenue annually, all of which will go directly to the city of Desert Hot Springs.

The additional funding will go to the city’s general fund, but Wilms said the city would use the money to maintain emergency services, increase public safety, address homelessness, improve economic development and upgrade roads and bridges to better prepare them for flooding and blow sand.

“While it is not restricted, it is going to go into the general fund, it would be to ensure the continuation of those priority items that were designated by the constituents here,” she said.

Before putting the measure to the voters, Wilms said the city did “significant community outreach,” to learn about what type of measure would be the most appropriate for the residents of Desert Hot Springs and their priorities before landing on what would become Measure P.

“There was significant community outreach, gaining the community’s priorities and aligning that with what options we had to overcome those significant decreases that we saw in the cannabis tax revenue,” she said.

But former Mayor Adam Sanchez, in his argument against the measure included in the Riverside County voter information guide, said the need for the sales tax increase was not due to a decline in cannabis revenue, but rather due to the “overspending and mishandling [of] city government finances.”

And while Wilms did not respond specifically to the statements made by Sanchez, she told The Record that she felt the city and the council have been very good stewards of taxpayer money, but also urged those with concerns to do their own research.

“It’s all on our city website,” she said. “There is an interactive budget book on there, and folks can go in and can play around with that, and if it is confusing or difficult to navigate, they can reach out to anybody here at the city, and we are happy to walk them through all of those items.”

If the measure does not pass, Wilms said the city would have to find additional areas to make cuts to address the revenue shortfall.

“We’ve already made some significant changes to adjust to some of the initial shortfalls,” she said. “If this doesn’t pass, we will have to look at what other items. We may need to have some discussions with the council.”

Those who have not yet cast their vote have three options to do so. They can drop off their signed vote-by-mail ballot at a secure ballot drop box, vote in person at a vote center, or mail their signed vote-by-mail ballot through the United States Postal Service as long as it’s postmarked by Nov. 5 and arrives at the office of the Riverside County Registrar of Voters within seven days.