Press Release
Santa Paula, CA – Since its passage by nearly 60% of Santa Paula voters in 2016, the local sales tax dollars generated by Measure T have been put to work in service to the Santa Paula community. Measure T is the City of Santa Paula’s 20-year local general sales tax measure, with all revenue deposited into the City’s General Fund.
The five-member Measure T Committee appointed by the City Council annually recommends, reviews and audits expenditures derived from the sales tax. Based on the Committee’s recommendation, the City Council then adopts funding allocations for the year. For Fiscal Year 2019-2020, the funds have been used to expand public safety and police services (55%), citywide streets and roads projects (30%) and youth programs (15%).
This one cent sales tax (per dollar) is proof that local measures such as this can have big impacts on city operations and services that influence the quality of life for residents. This has allowed the City to hire several key positions in the Parks and Recreation Department, such as facilities maintenance workers for local parks and recreation leaders, as well as expand the number of police officers serving and protecting the community.
Additionally, Measure T revenues have allowed $800,000 to be allotted to street improvement projects throughout the city, as well as contributing to the Ventura County Transportation Commission’s Heritage Valley Transit service. Street projects from this year funded by the measure include 6 miles of pavement rehabilitation and preservation, and the pavement project on Peck Road and Faulkner Road.
At the time of approval, it was estimated that Measure T would generate $2.1 million in annual revenue. Since then, revenue projections had been steadily increasing, with Fiscal Year 2018-2019 budgeted at $2.9 million and $3.1 million budgeted for Fiscal Year 2019-2020. However, the impact of COVID-19 on sales tax receipts will likely result in a sizeable decrease to this year’s projection.
“The power of a local sales tax measure like Measure T is that it goes directly to our residents through city services, without any stops at the county or state levels,” said Dan Singer, Santa Paula City Manager. “And despite these unforeseen circumstances with COVID-19, Measure T will still allow the City to plan and pursue new operations and services that it would not have the funding for otherwise.”
To further assist in upholding the integrity and transparency of Measure T, the City of Santa Paula has released an infographic (Measure T Graphic English) and (Measure T Graphic Spanish} that provides an overview of the measure and how it has benefitted the City. Residents are encouraged to review this infographic to learn about how much revenue the tax is generating and how the City is putting those local dollars to work.
For more information: click here
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What horrible way of paving the streets on
Richmond and Ernest dr.,such major shortcuts on doing the job..that’s why Santa Paula is on a stand still…wake up face reality of doing things correctly
The first thing that happened with the revenue was to give raises to all city employees. Not to increase safety by hiring more police. This measure was a scam to trick the people of Santa Paula. To mislead by vague description of what was done, is encouraging this deception.
See Measure T at work in the recent emergency…..
https://www.citizensjournal.us/santa-paula-q3-budget-shows-negative-covid-impact-of-six-percent/