Had the chance to hear the mayor of Culver City (Weissman) and one of the council members (Clarke) talk about Measure Y, a sales tax increase that will help help get the city budget in balance.
The two speakers pointed out that cuts have been made in the city workforce and pension commitments renegotiated but that the hole in the budget from the end of redevelopment agency funds and economic downturn was still eating into the city's reserves because of a structural deficit.
Here it an op-ed from the vice-mayor Cooper.
Culver City is a relatively small city of 40,000 and much of the budget goes to basic services like police, fire, sanitation, transportation and parks. The rise in sale tax will leave Culver City with rates comparable to neighboring cities. Additionally, the sale tax has a sunset provision (10 years) and could be rescinded by a vote of the city council.
The measure received support from the Culver City Chamber of Commerce.
I'll be voting Yes on Y.
UPDATE: The LATimes published a report on 11/5/12 that Mayor Weissman owes a sizable amount of back taxes. It will be interesting to see if this late breaking news hurts the Yes on Y campaign. Certainly, Culver City residents will probably want to hear more from Weissman about the situation beyond the very terse comments related in the LA Times article.
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