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ROOM TAX HIKE
Manteca visitors will pay 12% tax if voters approve plan on Nov. 6
room tax

It is the $450,000 question: Should Manteca visitors staying in hotel rooms pay $450,000 more over the course of a year to provide day-to-day municipal services such as police, fire, parks and street maintenance, and more?

The City Council will decide Tuesday whether to place such a measure on the Nov. 6 ballot for voter approval.

The tax is currently 9 percent and generates just over $1.2 million a year for city services. The proposed tax rate would be 12 percent.

At that level visitors to Manteca would still be paying a lower hotel tax than Manteca residents going to popular California destinations. Current hotel tax rates include 14 percent in San Francisco and Los Angeles, 15 percent in Anaheim (Disneyland), 13.5 percent in Reno, and 13 percent in South Lake Tahoe. Those room taxes are in addition to other hotel room taxes. Los Angeles, as an example, also slaps on a 1 to 1.5 percent tourism improvement district tax on top of the hotel tax depending upon where the hotel is located. Manteca has no such tax nor is it planning one.

At 12 percent the proposed Manteca hotel room tax would be on par with Sacramento, Fresno, Bakersfield, and tourist dependent locales such as Inyo County. It would equal the Las Vegas strip room tax of 12 percent but would be lower than the Las Vegas downtown room tax of 13 percent.

The tax increase — if passed — would go into place before the end of the year. That would mean the city would realize $201,650 for the balance of the fiscal year that started Monday. The city would generate an additional $450,000 for a full fiscal year starting July 1, 2019.

 The big payoff would come after the Great Wolf Lodge that breaks ground next month is up and running in 2020.

After the first full year of Great Wolf being open, under a 25-year room tax split that was negotiated the city would receive $581,700. Given that any increase up to the capped 12 percent would go 100 percent to Manteca, having the 12 percent rate in place when Great Wolf opens that would bump Manteca’s annual room tax from Great Wolf up to $2,023,700.

That means once Great Wolf is open and if the 12 percent tax rate was in place between existing hotels and the indoor waterpark resort, Manteca would be able to count on almost $2.4 million a year to support day-to-day municipal services without taxing city residents.

That is a $1.2 million increase. That translates into the equivalent of nine public safety (police-fire) frontline positions in today’s dollars. Based on the fact public safety is locked into receiving 62 percent of the general fund based on the voter approved language in Measure M so the half cent public safety tax would not supplant general fund revenue for the two departments,  police and fire would receive $740,000 of the $1.2 million increase in room tax.

City Clerk Lisa Blackmon in a report to the council noted information on the hotel tax measure would be disseminated via water bill inserts, presentations by city staff to service and community groups as well as neighborhood organizations, educational booths at community events, and social media platforms.

The City Council meets Tuesday at 7 p.m. at the Civic Center, 1001 W. Center St.

 

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com

 

 

 

California Respects the Power of Your Vote
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California Voting

By Shirley N. Weber, Ph.D., California Secretary of State  

Californians can confidently claim this: California has made more significant reforms to our election laws and expanded voting rights than any other state.  

The relevance of this accomplishment deepens as we prepare to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act next year. This landmark legislation began to undo our country’s long history of voter suppression, intimidation, and disenfranchisement that far too many Americans experienced at the polls for decades.  

My own parents, who were sharecroppers, were denied their right to vote in the Jim Crow era South. Before moving to Los Angeles from Hope, Arkansas, my parents, David and Mildred Nash, could not vote. My father was an adult with six children before he registered to vote and was only able to exercise that constitutional right for the first time here in California. 

As California Secretary of State, I do not take the progress we have made over the years lightly. My staff and I hold sacred the obligation to ensure that our elections are safe, free, fair, and accessible to all. Therefore, before certifying the results for this year’s election on Dec. 13, we have taken a number of steps to ensure that every vote is counted. We have also made sure that our ballot counting process is credible and free from interference.  

To meet that deadline without a hitch, California requires elections officials in all 58 counties to turn in their official results by a certain date. This year, that date was Dec. 6.  

By law, every eligible voter in our state receives a vote-by-mail ballot. This ensures all registered voters can exercise their right to vote.

Whether you placed your ballot in a designated drop-off box, voted by mail, or cast your ballot at a polling center, votes are safe and secure. And we allow voters to sign up to receive text message, email, or voice call notifications about the status of their own ballots by using the Where’s My Ballot? tool. 

The ballots of Californians who voted by mail are also protected. The United States Postal Service partners with the State to make sure ballots are delivered on time. All mailed-in ballots are sent by First Class mail with a postage paid envelope provided to every eligible registered voter.  

Election Security is our number one priority. That’s why my office designed and implemented a program to back up that commitment.  

Additionally, California takes preventive actions to make sure our voting technology keeps our elections safe and protects everyone’s votes.

For example, county voting systems are not connected to the internet, which protects them from cyberthreats. The State also performs regular and rigorous testing to make sure the voting systems are working optimally, and only authorized personnel are granted access.

Staff members are also given phishing and cybersecurity training.  

VoteCal, the state’s centralized voter registration system, is also key. The system is regularly updated, and it is used as a resource for counties to verify voter signatures.

California also provides security at all counting locations and makes sure ballot drop-off boxes are secured and monitored.  

And all election processes are open to observation during specified hours.  

In my role as Secretary of State of California, there is nothing more important to me than defending our democracy. I am committed to safeguarding voting rights, and to leading our state in upholding the highest democratic standards by implementing policies and practices that Californians and all Americans can trust and look to for instruction and hope.  

You can contact the California Office of the Secretary of State at 1-800-345-Vote or elections@sos.ca.gov with inquiries or to report suspected incidents or irregularities. Additional information can be found at www.sos.ca.gov and the office’s social media platforms:  

Instagram: @californiasos_ 

Facebook: Facebook.com/CaliforniaSOS 

X: @CASOSVote