Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

Let's start now. Welcome everyone, good evening. We thank you for joining us tonight for this session.

I am Thomas Giavri, City Assistant Manager here in Tulare. We are holding this virtual meeting to hold an open informative session on Step A, Service Steps, Tulare City. Community involvement is the key to city success and we hope to hear your voice and answer questions later in this program. Thank you once again for being present and committed to learning about our city and our operational. Next slide please. For tonight's presentation, I am accompanied by two of my colleagues, Melissa Wilcox, City Manager and Director of Public Affairs, as well as Jason Bowling, City Manager and Head of Technology. They will discuss the additional parts of tonight's presentation to provide clear information about step A, the next slide. Just a few short administrative things before we start. Tonight's webinar is recorded for those who may not be able to attend right now. As a participant, your camera and microphone are turned off, but please use the drop-down question in the Zoom Q&A box anytime. We will finish around 7 pm and if the time goes on longer, we recommend you send an email to us at cityclerk at covercity.ca.gov. And at the end of the presentation, we will be able to answer some questions that have entered the conversation. The complete recording will then be placed on the city's social media channels, websites, and YouTube. Regarding our agenda, we will start with a general picture of step A. Why is step A in the voice note? How will step A affect you if you agree? How will step A funding be used? How will the income from step A remain at the local level? And then end with your question. With that, I hand over to Melissa for the general picture of step A. Thank you, Thomas.

Let's take a look at some information about step A. So, on November 3 this year, Tulare residents will have the opportunity to give voice on step A, the service step of Tulare City, which is an increase of one cent in the transaction and use tax of the city. This is generally known as a sales tax. So, on June 2, the City Council of Tulare chose with a round voice to place step A in the November 2020 voice note. If option A is approved by the voter, all funds generated from the increase in sales tax must remain at the local level and be deposited in the independent financial audit as well as public issuance reports. If the voter agrees with option A, the increase of 1 cent that is suggested will make the total sales tax increase from 8.4% to 9.4%. This will secure around Rp 16 million per year to help support public services in the city, which I will discuss in more detail in a moment. So, this slide shows the official language that will be seen by the voters in the election information guide for the November election. Voters registered in Tulare will see step A as a proposal of the city as a place. A summary. Rep. Sweat. Sound. Will it be a step that funds public services? Tulare. Like. Protect. Respond. Disrupt. Prevent. Burn. Paramedics. Police. Prevent. Violence. Activity. Recruiting and protecting the police, firemen, paramedics, public areas, and parks. Staying safe, fixing roads and holes, managing the tunnel, protecting local drinking water sources, protecting and attracting local businesses. By raising the sales tax of about 1 cent, providing about 16 million every year until the end of the election, requiring independent audits, public disclosure of all funds used locally to be adopted, So, if Act A is approved by the voter, tax benefits will be used for public services such as emergency response, reducing property harm, and helping to remove young people from gang activities from gang activities. This will also support the maintenance of roads and local parks so that the public area remains clean, safe, and functional, as well as maintaining clean drinking water pools and preparing areas for drought. Public services can also support the management of housing insecurity while supporting and attracting local businesses to increase the economy. Now I hand it back to Thomas to discuss why this city is chasing an increase in the current sales tax. Thank you, Melissa.

Over the past few years, the city has implemented several steps to save money, including delaying capital projects and maintenance Although this is a rare step, financial projections show a structural deficit in the future where the exit is underway, pushed by inflation, pension obligations, and other priorities, increasing faster than the current income. On the left side of this slide, you can see that this city has about 74,000 inhabitants and population, as well as the number of visitors that continues to increase. This pushes for continued requests for response to the 9991 emergency, police patrol, fire protection, and road maintenance. The middle column shows the sales tax, source of income support, and the city's main public funds. This is projected to drop from Rp. 23.1 million to Rp. 22.3 million. This is a decrease of 3.5% from fiscal year 2025 to 2026. In the right column, you can see that based on financial projections, this city has 5 years before the structural deficit projection, which means that the output will exceed the revenue that continues to run, which may happen. Next slide. Now I will discuss what happens if step A is approved by the voter in November. It is important to know what items are excluded from the sales tax according to California law. If approved by the voter, step A will not apply to purchases such as food, household necessities such as water, gas, electricity, or medicines. Products such as retail products, car sales, food at restaurants, and so on will be subject to sales tax. If agreed, visitors to Tulare Regional Center will also contribute to step A by paying taxes, such as citizens outside the city who visit outlets or bioscopes. This comparison shows how step A affects the daily shopping structure. Foods such as apples and juices remain tax-free in both structures. Meanwhile, goods that are charged with a value of Rp. 100 will experience a local sales tax adjustment of 1%. For the purchase of goods that are charged with a value of Rp. 100, step A adds 1. Now, we will discuss how the income obtained from step A will remain at the local level. As a reminder, if agreed, every cent obtained from step A is legally required to remain in the rate. This slide shows where each cent goes from your sales tax. From 8.25 cents per dollar at the moment, 6 cents goes to the state, half a cent to the government association, 1.4 cents to the county, 1.1 cents to the county, and 1.1 cents to the city. Under step A, the allocation for the state, county, and regional bodies will remain the same, while an additional 1 cent will directly enter Tulare, increasing our city to 2.5 cents. I will now hand it over to Jason to start our Q&A session. Thank you, guys. That is our presentation, and now we will enter the Q&A session. To ask a question, click the question and answer icon on your control panel, type the question in the text column, then click send.

Thomas, do you have any questions?

Yes, we have a few here. The first question, why does the city implement this step? Yes, as we have said, the city has proactively implemented steps to save money, including delaying capital projects and maintenance of facilities. Although there is this effort, the financial projection showing the city will face structural deficits in the coming years. Expenditure continues to increase due to inflation, pensions obligations, the Tunawisma crisis, and other priorities. At the same time, our sales tax revenue, as I said, is projected to drop. Let's go. Wow, Thomas, we just got one more question. Let's see. Why is most of the general funds allocated for Wisma funds? So, most of the general funds are allocated for our Wisma funds program. However, the funds are also provided by foreign funds from federal and state institutions. So that's what the city always does, which is chasing foreign funding if possible to increase the cost in handling the crisis of colonialism and protecting the quality of life of our people here in Tulare.

And we got a question, how much is the cost of this action?

So, as I said, this 1 cent sales tax increase will make our total tax rate be 9.25% the same as in Porterville. Based on our projections, the budget for the average population of Tulare is around $460 per year based on average shopping habits or around $1,500 per household.

All right, I have other questions about what the funds will be used for.

Mr. Om, as explained in the language of the act of voicing, and according to the law, all funds resulting from Act A must be used to support the services of the city and the priorities of the community. This includes maintaining the emergency response time of 9-11, helping to prevent theft and property theft, overcoming the Tunawism crisis, maintain public areas and parks, remain clean and safe, repair roads and holes, protect local drinking water sources, be ready to face drought in the future, and protect and attract local businesses, and also protect local youth from gangs and crime. Okay, good.

Okay, the next question.

How will the city ensure that the funds are bought correctly? Tindakan A mencakup akuntabilitas keuangan yang ketat. Tindakan tersebut mewajibkan audit keuangan independen dan pengungkapan pengeluaran publik. Selain itu, setiap sen yang dihasilkan secara hukum diharuskan untuk digunakan di tulare, memastikan negara bagian tidak dapat mengalihkan dana ini untuk penggunaan lain di luar tulare.

Baiklah, pertanyaan selanjutnya adalah apa yang terjadi jika tindakan A tidak lokal?

Um, jika tidak disetujui, tarif pajak lokal akan tetap tidak berubah di... The additional income of Rp. 16 million projected for public services such as public safety, road improvement, and park maintenance will not be achieved. So, the city will not be able to provide the necessary quality services. Next question.

How is the action of the City of Tulare different from the previous voice-over initiative?

Of course. So, if agreed, Act A will operate independently from the existing local and regional taxes. And I will explain this so that it is clearer. So, the IGA action is a local transaction and a use tax agreed by the voters in November 2005. Measure Y is a loan business tax that gives the municipality to the city to set a loan rate for the sale of mortgages and the delivery of loans. Okay, there is a question here that sounds like this. How much is the current sales tax and how is the interest rate? As I have said before, the current sales tax rate is 8.25% for the interest rate. 6 cents now goes to the state part. 1.5 cents goes to the city. Half a cent goes to the TULARE Government Office, which is Measure R, and a quarter of a cent goes to TULARE KONTI. The income that goes to this city supports daily services such as public safety, which reaches 55% of our annual public fund budget, road maintenance, parks, community programs, and other city operations. Okay, there's another question.

What is the leak in the sales tax and how many are missing from the city?

So, the sale tax leak occurs when Tulare residents shop in other communities because Tulare makes a sale tax income that is less than what is usually expected for a city of our size. And the city does what can be done to deal with it, which is to help facilitate business before entering Tulare so that citizens can shop locally.

However,

Our current data shows that around 3,066,000,000 annual sales tax leaks occurred from transactions carried out outside Tulare. Good. And it looks like that's all the questions, Jason. So if you have any questions, make sure you send them through the answer question icon or send an email to paniterakota at tulare.ca.gov and we will continue to answer your questions. Perfect. So that concludes our formal presentation as well as our Q&A session. And I want to thank you for taking the time to join us tonight, Tia Ami. Before we close, I want to remind everyone that this presentation will be on the Kota website and social media channels. And the website also has information about city budget, tax steps size A. And once again, if you have further questions, you can email to cityclerk at tulare.ca.gov. And if you want to participate directly, we will hold another session like this on September 16 at 6 p.m. in the House of Representatives. Thank you once again for joining us and we hope you have a good night.