The vote means the tax will not appear on the March ballot. Also, the council did not discuss an agenda item to accept land and money from a developer in exchange for receiving development variances.
By Tina Forde/Special to The Malibu Times
At a special Tuesday afternoon meeting, the City Council voted 3-1, with Jeff Jennings opposed and Pamela Conley Ulich absent, to continue discussion of the proposal until Jan. 24. The council would have had to approve the proposal by Dec. 10 for it to make the March ballot.
According to the city staff report, a half-cent sales tax increase would generate $1.15 million in revenues for the city. The tax would tap the nearly 15 million annual visitors to Malibu. The money could go toward law enforcement, schools and parks.
The tax measure faces a number of hurdles before it is presented to the electorate. Stand-alone elections are expensive, and there are no upcoming county or district elections on which to piggyback the tax proposal. According to the city, a special municipal election would cost Malibu approximately $62,000. Placing the measure on the November 2004 ballot would have cost the city just $18,000.
Mayor Sharon Barovsky said for the tax measure to be successful, it would require a coordinated and unified community campaign.
“I would like to go through with this,” Barovsky said, “but no one wants to be responsible for running the campaign. We have to get the stakeholders on board. To get 66 2/3 [vote of the electorate] is almost impossible.”
Kearsley said he agreed.
“My greatest fear is to stand out in front of Ralphs alone,” said Kearsley, referring to the grocery store where Malibu campaigning is often conducted.
“If we get a ground swell we can get the money, but we need the bodies.”
Before the measure can be placed on the ballot, the City Council must determine the precise amount for the tax increase and the uses for the money generated from it.
“Instead of putting together a collection of interest groups, we need to figure out what our needs are,” Jennings said.
He said he agreed with education activist Laura Rosenthal, who said, “We need to look at what we need the money for, not who wants it.”
Kate Ross of the Malibu Foundation for Youth and Families said that if a tax is approved, “it should benefit police and children’s services.”
Other public speakers told the council that Malibu is changing. “Malibu is entering a transitional period,” said Ruth White, head of the Malibu Arts Foundation. “After the LCP [conflict ends] we’re going to grow like crazy.”
Former City Council candidate John Mazza also spoke in favor of a sales tax. “We get 10 million visitors a year and we have 13,000 residents. That is 770 people per resident. Eighty to 90 percent of our business is from outside. It’s fair to tax the tourists.”
The body also continued a proposal to allow La Paz Lane Development to donate land and $500,000 to the city for the construction of a new city hall in exchange for an increase of 12,000 square feet of office and retail space.