Every city on the Peninsula was hit hard by the pandemic. Revenue dropped, and even the most well-run cities had to dip into reserves to make the balance sheet work.
In San Mateo, the situation is no different. The city was able to make it through the pandemic with no staff cuts and its management team was creative in using its workers in different ways to ensure there was no job loss and to meet emerging community needs.
The city’s upcoming budget has a $4.7 million deficit, meaning it will have to draw from reserves over the next five years before building it up again. In response, the city is asking for a tax measure that will raise about $4.8 million a year that nearly all residents won’t have to pay. But how?
By increasing the property transfer tax from .5% to 1.5% for any sale over $10 million. Last year, there were six such transactions. These are big-ticket sales made by entities or people who can afford this increase. There may be some concern that it could dissuade interest in doing business in the city, but the current .5%, itself relatively unique, has done very little in this regard.
This is a practical request that the average resident will never pay. And it generates much-needed income for city services and infrastructure. It deserves your support.
Please purchase a Premium Subscription to continue reading.
To continue, please log in, or sign up for a new account.
We offer one free story view per month. If you register for an account, you will get two additional story views. After those three total views, we ask that you support us with a subscription.
A subscription to our digital content is so much more than just access to our valuable content. It means you’re helping to support a local community institution that has, from its very start, supported the betterment of our society. Thank you very much!
Only subscribers can view and post comments on articles.
Already a subscriber? Login Here
Sorry, an error occurred.
Already Subscribed!
Cancel anytime
Thank you .
Your account has been registered, and you are now logged in.
Check your email for details.
Submitting this form below will send a message to your email with a link to change your password.
An email message containing instructions on how to reset your password has been sent to the email address listed on your account.
No promotional rates found.
Secure & Encrypted
Thank you.
Your gift purchase was successful! Your purchase was successful, and you are now logged in.
| Rate: | |
| Begins: | |
| Transaction ID: |
A receipt was sent to your email.
(1) comment
Vote NO on Measure CC as this measure continues to reward city government for their self-inflicted wound of ill-advised business closures. As you can read, government workers didn’t suffer financially during the “pandemic” and they’re looking to others to, again, foot the bill. For now, they’re going after the “rich” but during the next voting cycles, they’ll be coming after you. Pensions and benefits are a perpetual expense, and they’re not getting cheaper.
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.