Santa Maria, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Santa Cruz Shopping Strip Centers....

[the city]

Originally Posted by Shawn_Estrada

When is SLO raising taxes? Last time i checked, my property tax bill went down. Can you give an example of how these cities are "raising" taxes to pay for ridiculous things (other than Paso PC and hot tubs ).

More growth does not equal more jobs, which does not equal more money. It's the developer's mantra that more growth=more money. If that were the case, than why did the central valley in the boom, which had some the highest growth in country have little job growth and stagnating income? Same can be said in general for a country as a whole. More growth does not necessarily equate to more money.

Additional construction jobs are temporary at best, and multiplier effects of construction jobs are sometimes questionable. Additional homes have additional burdens as well, that more times than not, are tax "losers" for cities because if the services that are needed (fire, police, public works, sewer, water, etc.). Those take money and have O&M to deal with. Fees just cover connections, but what happens afterwards? In the end, unless a subdivision is done properly, all tax payers subsidize growth.

All your big box growth in the world provides is low paying, service sector jobs. Based on cost of living, one cannot hold just one of these jobs and expect to raise a family, let alone cover the cost of living alone in this region. Then it is just about working multiple jobs, 60-80 hours a week just to pay bills.

It is evident you have little grasp of planning issues on a whole and focus simply on retail, which will not cure the economic ills of this county.

Did I ever state more big box stores for more jobs? No I didn't, so don't put words in my mouth.

People spend at big box stores and revenue goes into the cities and they create competition for stores in the area to have competetive prices which is good for the economy.

Uh, look at SLO's downtown parking go up. Look at how they just recently increased fees to make changes on a home. And the sales tax went up like 2 yrs ago in that city.

[Shawn_Estrada]

Originally Posted by the city

People spend at big box stores and revenue goes into the cities and they create competition for stores in the area to have competetive prices which is good for the economy.

Uh, look at SLO's downtown parking go up. Look at how they just recently increased fees to make changes on a home. And the sales tax went up like 2 yrs ago in that city.

Not all tax revenue from sales go to cities. 3/4 of a dollar goes to cities/counties. Of that, it gets split up, with the lion share going to the POS (point of sale). Some Cities have a 1/4 cent or 1/2 cent sales tax on top that. 2 years ago, a Statewide sales tax increase of 1% was enacted. This has since expired. SLO had nothing to do with the increase. Voters approved additional sales tax increase for additional services. So please, take your sales tax increase beef with voters, not the City.

Fees for parking were increase to subsidize parking for retail and build a garage. Who do you think pays for a garage? I certainly shouldn't. I walk to downtown and do not drive. Parking is a privileged, not a right. If you feel like the fee is too much, than don't shop downtown, or get out a hoof it from a local, non meter neighborhood. As for additional building fees, again, it is a service that the City provides, that is mandated by the State. So why should a City take a loss on a service? They need to break even and pay employees (now employee pay is a different topic). So, the fee needs to cover employee compensation. The private sector does it. Why can't the public sector? You woulnd't be kicking and screaming if an architect raised their rates to cover additional health care and other benefits now would you?

Competitive prices are good for the consumer but most certainly not for a mom and pop store. I want to make a profit, so I need my margin to come in pretty high to buy and sell more goods. Big boxes do indeed drive prices down, but if you drive prices down, than less sales tax is generated, how is that good all good for the economy? It's not. I appreciate a bargain here and there, but at the expense of good paying jobs, no thanks.