“We’re faced with working with an additional $1.5 million in cuts.”
So said Pacific Grove Mayor Dan Cort on Wednesday as the City Council convened in the wake of an election that saw voters reject three tax measures the city hoped would bail it out of red ink.
The city had hoped passage of the measures would raise another $1.5 million, which, coupled with $500,000 in cuts made by City Manager Jim Colangelo through a staff reorganization approved by the council last month, would head off an anticipated $2 million deficit this time next year.
The measures would have lifted the business license tax ceiling, imposed a parcel tax and increased the sales tax.
The citizenry, Cort said, apparently chose cuts in city services over paying new taxes.
Councilwoman Lisa Bennett remarked on the low voter turnout. The city has about 9,000 registered voters, she said, and only 2,700 of them cast ballots.
Also, The editor of the Pacific Grove Blooper Bulletin lost in a bid for water boarding.
http://montereycountyelections.us/Election_Result.htm
Monterey Peninsula WD TA4
Vote Count Percent
NP – REGINA DOYLE 2,525 55.31%
NP – LEE YARBOROUGH 2,040 44.69%