NationStates Jolt Archive

Sort of. The tally for a Measure here in Santa Cruz county (Watsonville, specificly) repealing an retirement tax came down to one vote (http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/archive/2006/June/07/local/stories/02local.htm), fuel for the every vote matters ancedotal anthology.

WATSONVILLE — Both sides predicted the vote on Measure E would be close.

But when the tally came in late Tuesday night, the repeal of the city's retirement tax was losing by just one vote.

...

Councilwoman Ana Ventura Phares, who lost her own bid for the Democratic party's nomination for the 28th Assembly District,

"It's so incredible every vote counts," Phares said.

In case you care for some reason about the tax policy of a farming town on the coast of California, this explains it:
The tax funds the pensions of city workers.

Backers argued the tax unfairly burdened property owners with an expense that benefited all city residents. The tax rate has fluctuated since the levy was first assessed in 1950, but the current rate is $134 per $100,000 of assessed value.

City officials responded with a vigorous defense of the tax, which was estimated to bring in $3.5 million, or about 10 percent of the operational budget in the 2006-07 fiscal year.


Of course, that's not the final tally, absentee ballots have yet to be counted and I doubt that narrow of a finish will be maintained, but damn...

Cool story--I hope the repeal fails.

Sort of. The tally for a Measure here in Santa Cruz county (Watsonville, specificly) repealing an retirement tax came down to one vote (http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/archive/2006/June/07/local/stories/02local.htm), fuel for the every vote matters ancedotal anthology.



In case you care for some reason about the tax policy of a farming town on the coast of California, this explains it:



Of course, that's not the final tally, absentee ballots have yet to be counted and I doubt that narrow of a finish will be maintained, but damn...
Meh. It's amazing, sure, but the odds are so stacked against that happening, even in a local election like that was, it's really not a very convincing argument to vote.

Cool story--I hope the repeal fails.
Personally, I think that property taxes are the absolute worst form of taxation. They basically keep people in a perpetual state of serfdom.

Of course I'd really like to be a hermit in the middle of nowhere, which is impossible as long as property taxes require some mode of revenue to pay them, so I'm maybe a bit biased.

While necessary in small towns (where almost the entire budget goes to the school system and the rest to police, and fire departments), the article implies that the city has other sources of revenue.

So I wouldn't be shedding many tears if it succeeds.

Unlike the state income tax repeal that my state almost passed in 2002.

That would have been a complete disaster.

Oh, and back on the original topic: the town of Amherst near where I live missed becoming a city by 13 votes.
Not one vote, but close.

Personally, I think that property taxes are the absolute worst form of taxation. They basically keep people in a perpetual state of serfdom.

Of course I'd really like to be a hermit in the middle of nowhere, which is impossible as long as property taxes require some mode of revenue to pay them, so I'm maybe a bit biased.

While necessary in small towns (where almost the entire budget goes to the school system and the rest to police, and fire departments), the article implies that the city has other sources of revenue.

So I wouldn't be shedding many tears if it succeeds.

Unlike the state income tax repeal that my state almost passed in 2002.

That would have been a complete disaster.

Oh, and back on the original topic: the town of Amherst near where I live missed becoming a city by 13 votes.
Not one vote, but close.
Damn, that is close.

Watsonville exists largely as a farm community. It's pretty rural and the last place left in the county that can even handle low income earners, with the rest of the county gentrified beyond sustainability (the service workers that make the city 'tick' so to speak can't afford to live in the city they work in nor the travel to live in a more affordable area like Watsonville). It's still got it's share of loaded people and the new rich arrivals-those are the ones who are making the stink, because as they drive up property values they drive up that ding. Watsonville itself, however, operates on a shoe string-it's not really a rich area so to lose 10% of thier funding it would be quite the blow.

Ahh.
We have much the same thing going on where I am.

Rich people decided they liked the small town atmosphere of Northampton and Amherst, and are buying up all the houses.

So the natives of thoses towns (like myself) have had to move out to the more rural areas (which I actually prefer). And the rural areas have lots of farmland, so they're now attracting Bostonians and such who want to get away from the high costs of living out there.
Which is driving up the taxes on the farmland, and squeezing out already many tight farmily farm operations.

And, of course, it's rather a mess.

Edit: Oh, and I note that many of the city folk are childless yuppies who, of course, do not want to fund the school system.

Not to mention that their "children" (read: dogs) always bound down the property and try to assault me whenever I go out for a walk.

That's pretty neat.. although I still don't regret not voting yesterday. Ever since they closed my polling place two houses down and forced me to walk 300 yards to the elementary school, I've been a bit disaffected with the electoral process. :(

Although I was glad to see Meathead take one on the chin. :p

Damn, that is close.

Watsonville exists largely as a farm community. It's pretty rural and the last place left in the county that can even handle low income earners, with the rest of the county gentrified beyond sustainability (the service workers that make the city 'tick' so to speak can't afford to live in the city they work in nor the travel to live in a more affordable area like Watsonville). It's still got it's share of loaded people and the new rich arrivals-those are the ones who are making the stink, because as they drive up property values they drive up that ding. Watsonville itself, however, operates on a shoe string-it's not really a rich area so to lose 10% of thier funding it would be quite the blow.

Thats too bad. I lived in Salinas in the 70s and my parents would go to Watsonville for the fruit stands and drop me off at the Moss Landing pier to fish using a drop line with enough money for bait (frozen shrimp or sqid) and a sno cone. Its a shame that the artichoke capital of the world is now being consumed by the yuppie capital of the world's unchecked expansion. I was kinda whimsically hoping it could have left that small part of the coast alone

Cool beans though for Watsonville being able to show that votes really do count. Go Watsonville!

Thats too bad. I lived in Salinas in the 70s and my parents would go to Watsonville for the fruit stands and drop me off at the Moss Landing pier to fish using a drop line with enough money for bait (frozen shrimp or sqid) and a sno cone. Its a shame that the artichoke capital of the world is now being consumed by the yuppie capital of the world's unchecked expansion. I was kinda whimsically hoping it could have left that small part of the coast alone

Cool beans though for Watsonville being able to show that votes really do count. Go Watsonville!
Watsonville is still the last vangaurd, so to speak. The yuppie steamroller still has to go through Soquel before it slams full force into Watsonville. You still have the fucking elitists who are 'afraid' to go into Watsonville and it still looks like it should be photographed in sepia tone. But you might want to start taking those photos, it's got maybe another 10-15 before it goes all San Jose on us. I watched it happen to my home town...

Your only hope might be to change the name of the town to something less appealing to Yuppies. Pity Oxnard is already taken.

Ive got it. Change Watsonville's name to Migrant Farmworker Camp!

Yuppies only want to feel the pain of these. And give support to the UFW. They wouldnt dream of actually moving there.

Your only hope might be to change the name of the town to something less appealing to Yuppies. Pity Oxnard is already taken.

Ive got it. Change Watsonville's name to Migrant Farmworker Camp!

Yuppies only want to feel the pain of these. And give support to the UFW. They wouldnt dream of actually moving there.
Nice, becuase while they won't admit it, it's the migrant farm workers in Watsonville that they're afraid of... That's where the battlelines I believe will be drawn, the yuppies will move in there and then try to do something about that and the farmers will push back to protect their labor pool. It might be more successful than Santa Cruz's artists trying to push back to preserve the community they built that became so attractive to internet boomers.

Nice, becuase while they won't admit it, it's the migrant farm workers in Watsonville that they're afraid of... That's where the battlelines I believe will be drawn, the yuppies will move in there and then try to do something about that and the farmers will push back to protect their labor pool. It might be more successful than Santa Cruz's artists trying to push back to preserve the community they built that became so attractive to internet boomers.

I just got a huge grin. When you mentioned Santa Cruz I had to go check on the beach and boardwalk on the net. The Giant Dipper and the Carousel are still there. I was worried it mightve been turned into a museum or winery the way things have progressed.

I just got a huge grin. When you mentioned Santa Cruz I had to go check on the beach and boardwalk on the net. The Giant Dipper and the Carousel are still there. I was worried it mightve been turned into a museum or winery the way things have progressed.
I'm not past chaining myself to the Giant Dipper if they come for that...

One of the local election results in the UK, this year tied on votes...

Erm, no. It appears I was not in full posession of the facts. On browsing some corroborative source (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uk_local_elections_2006) for this fact, I discovered it was stranger than that. ("Notable Battles" section, second and third bullets.)

I'm not past chaining myself to the Giant Dipper if they come for that...

Im only 3 hours away If they try to take the Giant Dipper!

One of the local election results in the UK, this year tied on votes...

Erm, no. It appears I was not in full posession of the facts. On browsing some corroborative source (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uk_local_elections_2006) for this fact, I discovered it was stranger than that. ("Notable Battles" section, second and third bullets.)
he candidates drew lots with the Lib Dems winning, giving them a majority on the local council.
Now that's an odd solution...

Now that's an odd solution...
Definitely. They should have played 'paper, rock, scissors'.

Cool story--I hope the repeal fails.

The repeat of the retirement tax killer bill?

WTF? It's never a bad thing to kill a tax....

I think if you read above he's saying that the town needs it to cover services.

The problem with cutting taxes is that it's generally done to how much people are willing to pay, then the cutting is delegated.

The ideal situation would be to cut the services, then delgating the cutting of the taxes, with a small surplus mandated for emergency situations.

Unfortunately, the idea of cutting non-essential services doesn't jive well.

And when you cut the taxes, and say "here, now cut the budget," you get willy-nilly slashing rather than neat trimming.

For example, my school could have saved some money by firing the two vice principles, who basically go around and act like the pointy-haired boss. Almost everybody agrees behind their backs that they're less than useless. And if you can do it with somebody incompetant in the job, you can do it without the job. And then the school is immensely ineffecient in energy, and has major issues with vandalism that could be cricumvented by a few hundered up front.

However, because the budget got cut (Prop 2 1/2 causes problems in emergencies), the school instead cuts librarian positions and art programs, while heat leaks out through the ACs and propped-open doors in mid-winter, while the broken paper towel dispensers allow students to pull open the front and throw the towels on the floor, and while the vice principles can't find anything useful to do so instead censor student artwork and rename "freshmen" to "ninth graders."

But I rant, sorry.

I think if you read above he's saying that the town needs it to cover services.

The problem with cutting taxes is that it's generally done to how much people are willing to pay, then the cutting is delegated.

The ideal situation would be to cut the services, then delgating the cutting of the taxes, with a small surplus mandated for emergency situations.

Unfortunately, the idea of cutting non-essential services doesn't jive well.

And when you cut the taxes, and say "here, now cut the budget," you get willy-nilly slashing rather than neat trimming.

For example, my school could have saved some money by firing the two vice principles, who basically go around and act like the pointy-haired boss. Almost everybody agrees behind their backs that they're less than useless. And if you can do it with somebody incompetant in the job, you can do it without the job. And then the school is immensely ineffecient in energy, and has major issues with vandalism that could be cricumvented by a few hundered up front.

However, because the budget got cut (Prop 2 1/2 causes problems in emergencies), the school instead cuts librarian positions and art programs, while heat leaks out through the ACs and propped-open doors in mid-winter, while the broken paper towel dispensers allow students to pull open the front and throw the towels on the floor, and while the vice principles can't find anything useful to do so instead censor student artwork and rename "freshmen" to "ninth graders."

But I rant, sorry.
The problem is they'd have to cut police and fire, and Watsonville does have a bit of a crime problem and a fire could cripple the town, and there are huge fields out there.