The nationwide economic turmoil is at least partly responsible for the defeat of two San Mateo County tax measures targeting businesses near San Francisco International Airport, county supervisors say.
Voters rejected both Measure Q and Measure R on Nov. 4, according to unofficial election results updated last week, in a setback to the county’s effort to close a $28.6 million structural deficit.
Together, the measures would have raised $11.5 million through new business license taxes on rental car companies and parking facilities in the county’s unincorporated areas. Most of those businesses are near the airport.
The board of supervisors voted in August to place the measures on the ballot, but their chances for passage dimmed as the country’s financial crisis worsened. Supervisors decided not to seek endorsements or mount an organized campaign, said Supervisor Rich Gordon, who proposed the measures along with Supervisor Mark Church.
“I think we felt that it was going to be certainly a difficult time to ask people to have businesses dig deeper,” Gordon said.
Church said he thought the measures did surprisingly well, “but you need someone to champion something like this and I don’t know of too many organizations out there who are going to lead a campaign effort on a measure to raise business license fees.”
Measure Q, an 8 percent tax on parking companies, failed with 52.6 percent of voters opposed and Measure R, a 2.5 percent tax on rental businesses, failed with 52.9 percent opposed, according to the elections office. They each needed a majority vote to pass.
Now, supervisors are left to figure out other ways to solve the county’s budget problems while also facing more cuts from the state, which is tackling its own budget deficit estimated to be $28 billion over the next two years.
County officials acknowledge that part of the solution will be cuts to county programs, which the board will likely discuss in January.
Church said supervisors have already “done just about everything we can” to raise more revenue, including adjusting the fees it charges for services.
Assistant County Manager David Boesch, who will take over as county manager in January, said officials will continue to look for ideas to raise more cash, but emphasized the county can’t rely solely on cuts to fix the deficit.
“I’m certain we’ll be circling back to the board with other revenue ideas which may ultimately translate to future ballot measures,” Boesch said.
Gordon said voters may be more receptive to the business license taxes in 2010, the next year that general purpose taxes can be placed on the ballot, if the economy has recovered and the budget issues persist. County budget officials say the deficit could grow to more than $90 million if no action is taken.
“I still believe that this is the best way to raise revenue and I’m not sure that anything else really makes sense,” Gordon said.
But one rental car executive that spoke out against the taxes said supervisors should not try to balance their budget “on the back of one single industry” that is also struggling.
“We’re glad the voters of San Mateo County saw this as an additional burden on an industry that was unfair and unjust,” said Len Almalech, vice president and general manager of Enterprise Rent-A-Car.
E-mail Shaun Bishop at sbishop@dailynewsgroup.com.
