Healdsburg rejects sales tax measure

<p>The Healdsburg City Council has decided not to place a proposed general sales tax increase on the November ballot.</p><p>Council members said they did not want to hurt the chances for a a sales tax initiative already on the ballot in Sonoma and Marin counties that would pay for a light-rail commuter train.</p><p>The concern was that a city tax might doom another quarter-cent sales tax to finance the proposed Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit train from Cloverdale to Larkspur.</p><p>“With SMART on the ballot, it seemed the right thing to do,” Councilman Gary Plass said of the council decision Monday night to forego a possible quarter-cent or half-cent tax increase in Healdsburg.</p><p>Healdsburg officials are concerned with a shortfall in the city’s general fund which pays almost entirely for police and fire services.</p><p>Over the past couple years, the city manager has suggested a sales tax increase to not only help pay for public safety but also to maintain city streets.</p><p>The city so far has been able to use reserves to cover the gap in the budget.</p><p>Such a special tax would require two-thirds approval by voters, similar to the SMART measure.</p><p>A city-commissioned telephone poll conducted in late July found likely support among Healdsburg voters for a sales tax increase.</p><p>The poll found 68 percent might support a half-cent sales tax increase and 76 percent might go for a quarter-cent increase.</p><p>But when respondents were asked if they would support both the SMART rail and a Healdsburg tax hike, only 46 percent said they would support both.</p><p>The Santa Rosa City Council last month also decided to forego a possible sales tax increase to increase the chances for the SMART measure in November.</p>