If Santa Barbara Voters Pass Sales Tax, Where Should the Funds Go?

When the Santa Barbara City Council unanimously agreed to put a half-cent sales tax measure on the November 5 ballot, giving the city’s voters the chance to decide on a tax that could bring in up to $15.6 million annually, it raised the larger question of how the city would decide to dole out those funds and what would be the top priorities.

During that council discussion on June 11, there was debate over the order of the priority list, a bullet-point breakdown that gave top-billing to “9-1-1 and public safety,” followed by affordable housing — specifically funding the city’s Local Housing Trust Fund — and homeless services. Some of the councilmembers wanted to list affordable housing as the top priority to reflect the input from the community, but after much discussion, the council agreed to move forward with the language as presented, since that specific wording had already performed well during polling.

On Tuesday, the city’s Finance Committee had its opportunity to weigh in on the ballot measure before the item returns for full council discussion. Finance Director Keith DeMartini went over the proposed list of priorities, which include: maintaining 9-1-1 emergency police response; contributing to the city’s Local Housing Trust Fund; improving housing affordability and addressing homelessness; keeping fire stations open; maintaining library services; and maintaining public areas and parks.