Check-Out Time

CHECK-OUT TIME… With shrimp-flavored popcorn in tentacle, Squid watched the fight over Measure M in Carmel to raise the transient occupancy tax from 10 percent to 12 percent. It’s a tax paid by hotel guests, not residents, a no-brainer way to raise money to pay for much-needed infrastructure and services. If you listened to Carmel innkeepers, raising the TOT would mean economic doom for the tiny town.

The innkeepers raised over $30,000 and bought multiple ads in the Carmel Pine Cone urging a “no” vote, including one based on a 1769 English political cartoon depicting members of Parliament about to slay the goose that laid the golden eggs, the goose representing trade with America.

Under the title “Carmel Council Killing the Golden Goose,” the innkeepers’ ad showed someone wielding a sword labeled “Measure M,” with the goose labeled “Carmel’s 42 Inns & Hotels.”

The measure won by a huge margin – 1,149 to 506, as of the latest ballot count on Nov. 9.

Squid wondered how much those 506 “no” votes cost. As of Oct. 17, Citizens Against Carmel Hotel Tax Increase reported spending $25,588. Divided by 506, that’s $50.56 per vote.

As it turns out, the only ones to lay an egg on Nov. 3 were the innkeepers.

MILLING AROUND… Squid prefers oozing to dancing as a modality of movement, but sometimes Squid finds the motivation to meet a dress code (“dressy nightlife attire”) and ooze over to 201 Main in downtown Salinas to let off some steam on a Friday night. Never has Squid paid much attention to the venue’s maintenance and restoration needs, calculated at a cool $1.8 million.

That’s according to an application submitted by building owner Gerry Kehoe to the City of Salinas, seeking a Mills Act contract. These contracts give property owners reduced property taxes in exchange for a 10-year work plan to protect historic buildings, in this case a 1907 structure that was remodeled almost a century ago, in 1927, to resemble its look and footprint of today.

The 16-percent savings to Kehoe would be roughly $3,343 per year (with the property tax bill estimated at $17,551 with Mills Act approval), a loss to the City of just $491 per year. How he’s going to pull off all of the work with those limited dollars remains a head-scratcher to Squid – there’s elevator maintenance and a fire sprinkler system, plus repairs to damaged masonry, historic windows, complete restoration of the 5,000-square-foot basement and 1898 bank vaults – but they say something is better than nothing.

In September, Kehoe’s request won a 6-0 yes recommendation from the Historic Resources Board, then on Nov. 10 (after Squid’s deadline), went to the Salinas City Council for the final say.