If you visit MaryAnn MacGillivray’s campaign website, you will find a list of what she describes as UUT facts. Some of the things she said didn’t jibe with my understanding of the current and proposed UUTs, so I looked into it a little deeper. I think MaryAnn (or whoever prepared the Facts list) may have made a few mistakes. I’ve spelled them out in the table below.
| UUT Facts per MacGillivray Website | Right or Wrong? | |
| The UUT is not going away | Right | |
| The UUT is currently 10% | Right | |
| The UUT will remain at 10% until July 2014 unless the City Council changes it | WRONG. The UUT as currently in effect will go to 12% in July of 2012 and/or July of 2013 unless the Council takes action to prevent it. In fact, if Measure 12-1 is passed, it will freeze the rate at 10% through July, 2013, taking away the possibility of it going to 12% in 2012. | |
| The City council is authorized to increase the UUT to 12% anytime up to June 30, 2014 …. Then …. | Right | |
| In July 2014 the UUT would go back to 10% | Right, if the UUT were currently above 10%. | |
| In July 2015 the UUT would decrease to 8% | Right, if the UUT were currently above 8%. | |
| In July 2016 the UUT would decrease to 6% | Right, if the UUT were currently above 6%. | |
| This is clear, there is no uncertainty | Right | |
| The tax is a General Fund tax and not a special tax | Right | |
| Public safety is funded now with the 10% | WRONG. The PD, since the 2011 – 2013 budget was adopted, has a Captain position and an officer position that are unfunded, and has been making additional cuts to help the City keep a balanced budget. As I understand it, the City has cut $300,000 from the police budget for each fiscal year 2011-13 and froze two positions. Given the loss of the RDA, the City has now cut another $131,000 from that budget, and that still does not address a currently projected shortfall of $300,000 in revenue for this fiscal year (including $160,000 less than projected from the UUT.) | |
| Public Safety is a priority and will continue to be funded | Right. The question is, what level of funding will be available. | |
| The City has 3 years to evaluate the budget and make proposed changes | WRONG. The next budget will be for 2013 – 2015, and must be in place by July 1, 2013. | |
| There is another election in 2 years so changes to the UUT could be voted on at that time after the community has time to evaluate any changes in service other than Public Safety | Right. However, by that time Council will have already had to make decisions for the 2013-2015 budget based on the anticipation of possibly lower levels of funding in 2016. | |
| THERE IS NO URGENCY AT THIS TIME | Depends on your point of view | |
| A NO vote on Measure 12-1 leaves the UUT at the rates listed above | WRONG. A NO vote leaves the UUT at the rates described in this column above. | |
| A YES vote on Measure 12-1 raises the UUT rate to 12% in July 2013 and keeps it there until June 30,2018 (5 more years)…. Then …. | Right and WRONG. A YES vote raises the UUT rate to 12% on July 1, 2013 UNLESS THE COUNCIL TAKES ACTION TO PREVENT IT. Each July 1st after that, the rate goes to 12% unless the Council takes action to prevent it. Note – the current Council has elected NOT to raise the tax to 12% two years in a row, and has therefore taken action to prevent an increase. | |
| In July 2018 the UUT would go back to 10% | If it had been raised to 12%. If it is at 10% it will remain there. If the Council has lowered the rate to less than 10%, they will have the option of raising it to 10%. | |
| In July 2019 the UUT would decrease to 8% | If the then current rate is above 8%. If the then current rate is 8%, it will remain there. If the Council has lowered the rate to less than 8%, they will have the option of raising it to 8%. | |
| In July 2020 the UUT would decrease to 6% | If the then current rate is above 6%. If the then current rate is 6%, it will remain there. | |
| Note: The UUT baseline is 6%; it doesn’t go away | Right. |