$2.6m: Profligate county spends profligately to muscle through profligate Meas A
Aesop's The Spendthrift and the Swallow follows a young man who spends all his money on gambling and luxurious living until he has only a cloak to keep off the weather. See page for author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
That $2.6 million is not a typo. Financially burdened Santa Clara County--and its non profit extensions--had to burn through millions to get those extra 6% of voters to pass Meas A. That lavish disbursement was multiple orders of magnitude more than that spent spent by the No on A* forces, who still came within shouting distance of defeating the measure. Santa Clara Online explores.
Voters in Santa Clara County approved Measure A, a county-wide sales tax increase of 0.625 percent. The latest information for the registrar has the Yes vote at almost 57 percent.
The Yes on Measure A campaign raised over $2.6 million. That total includes $525,000 from the Valley Health Foundation, the county health system’s nonprofit.
The No on Measure A campaign reported no contributions.
Officials estimate the additional tax will generate about $330 million annually. County officials say that the revenue will offset deep federal reductions in Medicaid and food-assistance funding.
But the tax increase was structured as a general tax. That means revenues flow into the County general fund rather than being legally tied to a specific purpose.
In many cities within the county, the combined sales tax rate is expected to rise from roughly 9.125 to 9.75 percent once the increase takes effect.
Santa Clara’s new sales tax will be 9.75 percent. Neighboring cities will be higher. Milpitas and San Jose will rise to 10 percent. Campbell will increase to 10.5 percent.
The lesson from Election Day 2025 is that the County can’t manage its finances. And from now on, shop in Santa Clara to save money.
* {Ed note: while there's no public reporting that we can find, it looks like No on A forces spent less than $25k in opposition. That's $2m less than disbursements by Yes on A.}
Read the whole thing here.
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