Published Wednesday, March 1, 2006, in the San Jose Business Journal

Santa Clara County sales tax hike is on June 6 ballot

By Timothy Roberts

The voters of Santa Clara County will have the opportunity June 6
to raise the county's sales tax by half a cent to 8.75 percent,
but what the money from the tax would be used for is unspecified.

The County Supervisors voted 4-1 Tuesday night to put the tax
question on the ballot in order to raise an estimated $160 million
a year. They could not specify how the money would be used without
triggering the provisions of Proposition 218, which would raise the
threshold for a passing vote to two-thirds, instead of the simple
majority required by a general-purpose tax.

Supervisor Blanca Alvarado was the only no vote on the board, and
her reason for voting no was the "underlying feeling out there
that this proposal is being used to circumvent the two-thirds vote
requirement."

The county was combining its need for a quarter-cent sales tax with
the Valley Transportation Authority's need for an equal amount to
complete the 16-mile, $4.2 billion extension of BART from Fremont
to San Jose and Santa Clara.

Supervisor Liz Kniss, however, denied that there was any agreement
to use the money for BART.

"There has been no deal struck with me," she said.

A total of 38 people spoke at the public hearing in the county
building, 27 in favor of a half-cent general sales tax, 10 against
and one who stayed neutral.

Many of those who favored the increase did so out of concern for
social services, in particular the Valley Medical Center, whose
cost woes have worsened as federal and state funding has declined.
Supervisor Chairman Jim Beall said the state was behind in its
support of the hospital by $42 million. The need to put the measure
on the ballot in June is underscored, he said, by the long line of
children -- 972 -- who are waiting for coverage under the county's
children's health care program.

Many cited the uncertainty of state and federal funding as a reason
to generate more revenue locally.

"We cannot depend on Sacramento and Washington," said Bob
Brownstein, policy and research director for Working Partnerships
USA, the San Jose-based think tank affiliated with the South Bay
Labor Council. "If we want to meet the critical needs of county
residents we have to depend on each other."

Opponents generally opposed the tax because they believed it was
really a bailout for the BART project, which was launched with a
half-cent sales tax approved by a two-thirds vote in 2000 and whose
revenue starts to kick in this spring.

The Supervisors were acting as "a front for another organization,"
said Elizabeth Brierly, vice president of the Silicon Valley
Taxpayers' Association. That organization was the VTA, which, she
said, was "not a good steward of its financial resources."

Beall, who opposed putting the 2000 tax that launched the BART
extension on the ballot, said that he believes the voters will trust
the county to use the money wisely and will vote to approve the tax.

"We are fiscally conservative," he said, noting the county's high
bond rating.

If the voters do approve the tax, it would go into effect on Oct. 1.