A city anti-gang tax proposal remains alive but needs some help

The city's proposed anti-gang tax is still alive, but it needs some help to survive another week.

A measure calling for a quarter-percent increase in the city's sales tax to help pay for the fight against street gangs was moved along by a 5-2 City Council vote Tuesday night.

The City Manager's Office will now draft the wording for a measure that could appear on the November ballot.

Still, six council members would have to vote for the draft next week for it to go to the voters.

Councilwoman Lauren Hammond abstained from Tuesday's vote. She said she hadn't made up her mind on which way she will vote.

Councilman Steve Cohn was not at the meeting but has already expressed his opposition to the measure.

If Hammond and Cohn vote against the measure next week, there will be no gang tax for city voters to decide Nov. 4.

Still, even Mayor Heather Fargo – the measure's most vocal supporter – had expressed doubts the proposed tax increase would get enough votes to make it past next Tuesday night.

"I'm pleased that we got this far," Fargo said after the meeting. "We're on our way."

Asked if she thought she could persuade Hammond to vote for the measure next week, Fargo replied, "I think the best thing to do with Ms. Hammond is to give her a little time."

The proposal would need two-thirds voter support in the Nov. 4 general election to pass.

If it does, the city's sales tax would increase from 7.75 percent to 8 percent. City officials said it could raise an estimated $16 million a year, a majority of which would pay for prevention and intervention measures in combating youth and gang violence.

The tax would be in effect for 30 years, but that could be shortened.

Tuesday's vote nearly mirrored the sides drawn in the mayoral race: Almost every council member who supports Fargo in the November runoff election supported moving the measure along, while Kevin Johnson's camp tried to shoot it down.

Fargo and council members Rob Fong, Bonnie Pannell, Ray Tretheway and Kevin McCarty voted to move the measure along. Fong, Pannell and Tretheway have endorsed Fargo, while McCarty has not endorsed a candidate.

Voting against the measure were council members Robbie Waters and Sandy Sheedy. They, along with Cohn, support Johnson.

"The people I represent are the people who can least afford a sales tax increase," Sheedy said.

"There's nothing wrong with the intent of this proposal, but the timing could not be worse," she added.

She cited a utility tax measure on the ballot and tough economic times that have contributed to home foreclosures in her district.

Supporters of the measure said the additional revenue would provide much-needed alternatives for at-risk young people who get sucked into the gang lifestyle because of a lack of job resources and support in school.

"We're begging that you provide programs that we can harvest our dreams in," said 16-year-old Charday Adams, a junior at Grant High School.

Critics of the measure said it had been put together too quickly. Johnson charged earlier Tuesday it had been jammed through "at the last minute."

"I think we're moving much too quickly," Waters said.

Those opposed to the measure have also said the city should seek state and federal grants to combat youth violence before raising taxes. But Fargo and other elected officials said those outlets are beginning to dry up.

"We don't have the resources to do what we'd like to see done (on the state level)," said Assemblyman Dave Jones, D-Sacramento, who supports the tax hike.

Fargo acknowledged raising the sales tax would burden residents. "It's a very difficult time, but it's also a very difficult time for our youth," she said.

Officials with the city's police union said the gang tax would hurt their attempts at passing a tax assessment in the future that would help pay for the city's public safety master plan – their outline of how the police and fire departments plan to grow over the next 15 years. Police and fire officials have been discussing placing an assessment before city voters since April 2007.

A union poll found people supported a quarter-percent increase in the sales tax for the master plan – "but not overwhelmingly," said police union chief Brent Meyer. Plans to place it on the ballot were put on hold, Meyer said.

Meyer said the gang tax was not as comprehensive as the public safety assessment and should it pass, "it would doom the funding of the master plan."

Council member McCarty noted that up to $6.4 million generated each year by the tax would be dedicated to the Police Department. Police Chief Rick Braziel said that amount "does allow us to do extra things."

Braziel said it was his department's role to remain neutral on whether the measure makes sense. But he said that some of the wording in the current draft was "not the most efficient way to do business" for his department and that he was pleased city staff had another week to address his concerns.

"We're in tough budget times, so any additional resources we can get will help," the police chief said.

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