Editorial:
How many times will Chula Vistans be threatened with cuts to public safety, potholes, and reduced library hours if it’s citizens don’t make up for the lack of poor planning and strategy at City Hall?
Proposition H is Chula Vista’s latest attempt to fool and deceive, scare and trouble its residents.
This has become a troubling trend with local cities to threaten the loss of police and fire services – along with other services – unless the residents are willing to tax themselves at a higher rate to maintain these services. The first attempt at raising taxes was with the 1% sales tax increase and now plan B is Prop. H “modernization” of the utility tax. In layman’s terms – adding a tax to your cell phone and internet usage.
The only problem with the argument of lost police and fire services is that if this tax is collected it will go into the general fund which then means it can be spent anywhere, like the recent council decision to spend $20,000 on a sculpture garden at 3rd and E, the Nature Center (which still hasn’t found a sponsor), the permit fee deferrals that some developers are receiving, car allowances for top city officials, and salary increases for council staff and city management.
This city council and councils in the past have not shown fiscal restraint or addressed any of the systemic problems at city hall. Now they want more money to continue spending.
The scope and intent of this ordinance has been misinterpreted by the city’s Director of Conservation & Environmental Services, Michael Meacham, for several years. The citizens of Chula Vista are paying the price. And now the city is asking its citizens to vote to correct the problem.
Proposition H is asking for millions of dollars in new revenue that comes out of the pockets of 230,000 residents. It’s not a bond measure that shares the burden of new taxes in a scaled fashion, or that has an expiration date. It’s an unrestricted tax on communication – basic necessities – in education, business, and life. Not just on services that we use today, but in all future communications services.
Make no mistake about this; this is no “modernization” it is plainly and simply a tax, a tax that will adversely affect the low-income and poor, who have forsaken the land line in favor of pre-paid cell phones and cell phones in general, and will an even greater impact Hispanics who call family and friends in Tijuana, Mexico.
Vote No on Prop H.