Galt OKs study on sales tax increase for police funding

Galt's police department could get a $400,000 per year funding boost if residents pass a potential ballot measure to increase the city's sales tax.

That ballot measure moved closer to reality this week when the City Council voted 5-0 to gauge the community's support for the initiative, which would be on the Nov. 2008 ballot.

"I was very pleased with the outcome," said Councilman Donald Haines, who is pushing the ballot measure. "The council agreed to move forward and do an initial survey to find out if the community is willing to pay for additional police services."

The city will hire consultants Lew Edwards Group for the $40,000 first phase of the public awareness campaign. The Oakland-based consultants will spend three months polling the community to see if they will tolerate a quarteror half-cent, sales tax increase.

If there is public support, the council will spend $120,000 for the second phase of the non-partisan educational campaign in the run-up to the election.

Galt Police Chief Loren Cattolico estimates a quarter-cent sales tax increase would fund three to four new police officers including vehicles and equipment. A recent study of Galt police services found that the department is under-staffed despite adding five positions in the last two years.

The study identified a funding gap between current funds and the funding level needed for a fully staffed department. For a few hours a day, Galt has as many as six police officers on duty and two officers on the graveyard shift, Cattolico said.

"It's pretty skinny out there," he said. "(This measure) would allow us to be more visible."

Proposition 218 requires that all new taxes be put to voters. Taxes for dedicated spending, such as for public safety, need to pass by a two-thirds majority.

California law allows sales tax increases in multiples of a quarter-cent. Haines said the initial study would determine the amount of increase to put on the ballot. Galt's sales tax is currently 7.75 percent.

"If the community feels public safety is important, they will support a half-cent increase," Haines said. "It comes down to what the citizens are willing to endure."

Galt tried to pass a sales tax increase in 2004, but voters overwhelmingly turned it down with 79 percent against the measure. The city did not hire consultants to help educate the public about that ballot measure, Haines said.

The Lew Edwards Group has helped cities raise $16 billion in finance measures with a 92 percent success rate, according to the company's proposal.

The company helped the city of Manteca pass a half-cent public safety sales tax measure with 70 percent support. The city now has the highest sales tax rate in San Joaquin County at 8.25 percent when voters approved the measure in 2006 after turning it down in two previous elections.

Lodi officials have talked about raising public safety funds through a sales tax increase. In 2006, voters turned down measure G, a quarter-cent sales tax increase that would have paid for paramedics on fire trucks and funded sports centers.

Contact reporter Matt Brown at mattb@lodinews.com.