I still offer up the John Denver Memorial RV Park.
After 77 percent of Pacific Grove voters resoundingly defeated Measure P, officials are determined to find new ways to raise revenue – fast. Measure P would have levied a 5-percent tax on event and venue admissions, bringing an estimated $4.2 million annually to the city.
But no increase in business license cost. Don’t want to run more shops out of town. Does Moe have chamber members that are unlicensed?
After weeks of speculation, the city of Pacific Grove on Wednesday took another step toward instituting a citywide admission tax by approving the measure 4-3 for the November ballot.
Conversely, a potential ballot measure that would increase the existing business license tax by 40 percent and remove its existing cap, was voted down 5-2.
Eleven California municipalities currently collect admission taxes including San Francisco, Santa Cruz and Pasadena.
Moe Ammar recommended that the city collect money from P.G. businesses that are operating without a license. According to a physical audit by the chamber, there are estimated to be 60 businesses operating in the city and 100 businesses operating out of the post office and UPS store without a permit.
Increasing business tax as other sources for more money fail.
The proposed increase would take the current rate from $0.001 per dollar of gross receipts to $0.0024.
If passed, the initiative would also remove the current cap.
Right now, if a business makes more than $3 million in gross receipts, they only pay $3,000 in business license tax because that is the current cap.
City Manager Ben Harvey said there are about 20 businesses in Pacific Grove affected by the cap.
The city has been exploring ways to increase revenue for months and this is one of the ideas the council thinks could work.
Admission taxes and business taxes, those will save us.
The citywide admissions tax would apply to ticket sales for all attractions, including movies, sporting and special events, tours, concerts and the aquarium. Approximately 20 percent of the aquarium is located under Pacific Grove’s jurisdiction.
The other tax in question on Wednesday will be the city’s business tax license. The current cap for a business license is $3,000 with the minimum cost set at $15.
Options proposed to the city, to be considered separately or in combination, include removing the $3,000 maximum tax cap, retaining the cap and increasing the tax rate, or removing the cap, streamlining the process by eliminating the separate current tax/process method and applying a tax rate by business type.
Ticket Taxes, That’s the Ticket
I think they do this to every new City Manager to introduce them to the town since they are never a current or previous resident.
Consideration of the tax comes after last week’s council meeting when City Manager Ben Harvey presented revenue-generating ideas for the city. That’s when councilman Dan Miller made a motion to consider putting an admissions tax on a future ballot, a move that could potentially drive up the cost of ticket prices at the aquarium, but also raise $700,000 for the city of Pacific Grove.
“The wear-and-tear done on our roads and infrastructure is by people who are coming here for admissions for one area event or another,” said Miller. “You have to just start saying, ‘They pay other taxes like a gas tax, sales tax except not admission to an event.’ Why is that special? It shouldn’t be.”
Animal lovers want tax money to protect seals. Liken it to feeding stray cats. Keep protecting them and the population quickly increases, outstripping the food sources and attracting more predators.
Harbormaster with the city of Monterey, Steve Scheiblauer said last spring the number jumped to about 700 and with it came a lot starving juveniles.
“At that time the animals were young and thin very emaciated looking,” Scheiblauer said.
For many it was hard to watch the animals, which can be an annoyance to many boaters and fisherman but are also endearing.
“It’s hard to witness this kind of thing, but you know I have seen a lot of it and this is nature appears to be unfolding,” said Scheiblauer about the event in 2015.
Delong said the population is seeing its first big disturbance in decades thanks to the warm blob which has been pushing food sources farther out to sea.
Moe says no. Less money for hotels to contribute to Chamber.
It was in February 2008, that the council approved a deal with the city’s innkeepers not to increase the TOT as long as they agreed to join the Monterey County Convention & Visitors Bureau and assessed themselves under the Pacific Grove Hospitality Improvement District, according to Ammar.
He said that a TOT increase would result in lower spending on shopping, dining and attractions. He also pointed to the 1 percent increase in sales tax that took place in 2008, which he said has generated over $1.2 million annually to the city.
Wha wha what? The very leaders the residents elect and the goofus Moammar have all been working hard to bring tourists to the town. Suddenly the town is becoming popular with visitors and people are all mad about it?
Why act so surprised? First there was the come-heres buying up all the funky rental houses, they remodeled them and stayed in them for a few weeks a year. Now they are renting them out to total strangers they find on the Internets.
Be careful what you ask for, tax loving P.G. politicians. You may get something slightly different than you wanted.
The program has been around for the last five years, but in the last year the city has seen an explosion in requests for short-term rental licenses.
Longtime Pacific Grove resident Thom Akeman has owned his home for 27 years, and he said thanks to sites like Airbnb his street has taken a turn for the worse.
“The last year it’s ceased to be residential, very few people live on this street because the short-term rentals that started about five years ago just in the last year went crazy,” said Akeman.
Pacific Grove Residents Turn Against The Tourists
And 27 years for the tree posse sheriff? He’s still a come here.
By Tom Fruitcheese and the Monterey Peninsula Water Pollution Creation Agency. Protesters tried to stop it with a written campaign but fell short, kind of knee deep in the sewage.
The city’s aging sewer system has led to repeat sewage spills into protected coastal waters. Officials sought the fee hike to cover the long-term costs of repairing it, pinned at $13.9 million over 10 years.
“Portions of the sewer system are almost 100 years old,” P.G. City Manager Tom Frutchey writes by email. “In order to keep the system functioning effectively, for the safety of residents and the protection of the Bay, the council adopted the proposed rates. Throughout the 10-year period, future councils will be able to make further adjustments.”
Meanwhile, the Monterey Peninsula Taxpayers Association has pressured the city to refund a $600,000-plus sewer fee overcharge to residents. Officials have said they’d rather apply it as a credit against the upcoming fee hike.
Not enough input from opposition.
New rates will help cover the cost of fixing old pipelines that date back to the early 1900s. Pacific Grove residents will now see a 5 percent rate increase on their monthly sewer bill, totaling about $42 a month, and some residents in the area aren’t too happy.
The city said the sewage rate increase will bring in more than $800,000 over the next couple of years. City officials said the sewer fund is separate from the general fund and can only be used for sewer maintenance.