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MEASURES C & E UNNECESSARILY WASTE $1.1 BILLION OR MORE OF TAXPAYERS’ MONEYS! |
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Welcome to the Silicon Valley Property Taxpayers’ Association - Measures C&E Unnecessarily Waste $1.1 Billion of Taxpayers’ Moneys portion of our Web Site. The district asserts Measure C is part of its “smart” plan for addressing its most urgent and critical facility maintenance and repair needs, notwithstanding the fact that with servicing/interest costs over next 40 years Measures C and E end up costing local property owners over $1.8 BILLION [again these are the district’s figures, not ours]! In contrast, comparable special taxes would cost taxpayers at least $1.1 BILLION LESS! How so you may be asking yourself? As we’ve demonstrated and as an alternative to bonds, California law allows community college districts to impose new special [Government Code, §50079.1] or general [Government Code, §53723] taxes. Or it could ask the county to increase the sales tax [instead of for BART] to provide more for higher education. Or completely in lieu of an increase in the sales tax, it could ask the county to impose a new “transactions and use tax” [see California Attorney General Opinion 97-1205]. If any of these alternatives to bond financing were implemented, the cost to taxpayers of $490.8 Million in new financing [Measure C] would be $490.8 Million! And the cost to taxpayers of $248 Million in Measure E financing would be $248 Million! Furthermore many the additional costs associated with bond financing [if you want to learn about some of these costs, click here] could be eliminated by levying a special, general, sales or transactions and use tax. So there it is in black and white. Bond financing according to the district - $1.8 Billion or more. Alternative financing according to us - $738.8 Million. The additional cost to taxpayers - $1.1 Billion! Now why continue to pursue new “bonds” if other major funding sources like the ones suggested exist? We offer two reasons. First and as we have observed, the only persons who repay the bonds of Measures C and E are local property owners. Yet they represent less than 50% of all voters! The district knows that although voters may be reluctant to further tax themselves, in the words of California Bldg. Industry Assn. v. Governing Bd. (1988) 206 Cal.App.3rd 212, 237-38, they will “gladly impose taxes which the[y]...themselves do not have to pay!” Second, bonds require just 55% voter approval, whereas special taxes for education require two-thirds! Therefore just like the County’s sales tax Measure A [also on your ballot], the district is guilty of electoral manipulation at taxpayers’ expense. In other words to the district “the ends justify the means!” If you agree the the district’s “smart” plan unnecessarily wastes at least $1.1 Billion of taxpayer money; and you do not approve of its electoral gamesmanship; we urge you to VOTE NO! Should you have questions or comments, please address them to Silicon Valley Property Taxpayers’ Association at: |
