About two-and-a-half hours after the polls closed in the primary election on Tuesday, June 2, the Carmel City Council was in the midst of deciding whether to put one, two or zero tax measures on the Nov. 3 general election ballot.
The five councilmembers had just expressed support for at least one tax measure, a 2-percent transient-occupancy tax, which would raise the current tax paid by hotel guests from 10 percent to 12 percent. They were also considering a second tax, a sales tax increase of 0.375 percent.
"I'm really torn," sad Councilmember Jeff Baron said at around 10:30pm. Looking at the early results of measures in other cities on that night's ballot he noted that every single one was failing: Measures A and B, parcel tax proposals in South County; Measure C in Pacific Grove to raise P.G. City Council compensation; Measure D in Monterey, the exact same sales tax the Carmel council was considering in November.
Baron wondered if it was wise to put both the TOT and sales tax measures on a single ballot. Some of his colleagues were less torn. Councilmember Bob Delves was ready to vote in favor of sending both measures to voters in November.
"Let's do a good job. We may end up with nothing or we may end up with something. I just know we need the revenue. That's important to me," Delves said. "I would never propose raising taxes if I didn't think we need the revenue and we do."
Mayor Dale Byrne said he favored the sales tax measure more than the TOT measure, but he didn't want to the lone "no" vote and potentially cause the measure to fail in November.
In the end, the vote was 5-0 to put the TOT measure on the November ballot and 4-1 to put the sales tax on the ballot, with Councilmember Alissandra Dramov dissenting. She noted a growing anti-tax sentiment statewide as more and more local governments seek tax measures to tackle rising costs and budget deficits. She also argued that sales taxes are regressive and would harm older residents on fixed incomes and others.