AnonymousSource: City of Santa Barbara
Sales Tax Results for the Quarter Ended December 31, 2018
Santa Barbara received $6.07 million in sales tax revenues during the quarter ended December 31, 2018, which is 13.4% more than the same quarter last year. This unusually high growth is due to the impacts of the Thomas Fire in December 2018. By way of comparison, the two year growth from December 2016 to December 2018 is 7.1%.
As the second largest General Fund revenue, the sales tax budget for fiscal year is $21,865,700. Sales tax results for the March quarter will be available later in May 2019.
For additional information on recent sales tax results, click here.
Transient Occupancy Tax Results for the City of Santa Barbara
The City of Santa Barbara collected approximately $1.44 million in transient occupancy taxes (TOT) for March 2019, which is 3.9% above March of last year.
The City has collected approximately $14.28 million in TOT revenues through the first nine months of this fiscal year, which runs from July 1 through June 30. The City’s adopted TOT budget is $19,605,700.
The Transient Occupancy Tax table can be viewed here.
hey SB, why not do something novel how about lowering the local sales tax given this big surplus.
Well, you know those pension costs will not go away. The City Attorney is hard at work crafting more “precision” ordinances and permits to help his fellow employees for the future. His pension alone will be huge.
It’s the Economy… it’s booming~
Notice how they are getting all excited about taxing everyone more as if it’s a good thing? However, every time they count there’s that fear it might go down. People might “shop” elsewhere or stop spending. With no doubt, when it does “come to an end” it will thud like a rock. We all know these collected revenues are being spent mostly on pensions derived from years ago. Very little of this collected money is put back into the economy.
The I-5 closure also negatively affected hotel occupancy in December 2020 and in January 2019 there were several evaluations due to rain so January 2019 saw lower occupancy. Spring Break is around the corner so hopefully the Corona Virus doesn’t deter domestic travel.
The city needs to stop making excuses for the low TOT. Blaming a bit of rain is absurd. The Cave Fire was before Thanksgiving and hardly affected downtown SB.
Lower than expected property taxes is ominous. That is thier last sure thing. Why did they leave that out as it has been reported elsewhere.
Has the City started furloughs and/or lay-offs?
But you know, close it all back up and we’ll be just fine.
Why would they do that? I’m sure they will all get a raise in their pay as a “hazardous job pay” and just raise sales tax…. again.
Exactly, Mr Casey got a big Council approved raise in January.
Austerity and bankruptcy are inevitable without a significant change in the city’s budget and its incredibly bloated and over paid workforce. And no, laying off the $14 an hour part timers does not begin to address or resolve the problem. We are going broke and Casey and Murillo are steering us directly into the iceberg… Look for major tax increases, fee increases, service reductions and more and more debt just to maintain our current course. Know that we couldn’t service our city during the biggest boom times and now we’re heading into a 50% reduction in revenues. This city is like a drunken gambler and will not stop its habits until its all gone, every last penny and every last option… Read the reports. Study the figures. We are going broke. The city is failing.
What does the city’s Plan B look like – they have had 6 months to prepare one. Cut back expenses, go into debt, raise taxes, file for municipal bankruptcy, draw on reserves with a pay back plan, ask for voluntary contributions to our own favorite city programs……….? One thing is certain, reducing promised pay and benefit increases to the city employee unions is not reducing expenses.
Plan B to the Tax Addicted city is the same as Plan A. More taxes with less benefits to the citizens.
It’s a spending problem. But covid-19 has now made it also a revenue problem. So much waste. Pensions are out of control. Bed tax was never a good idea. Made vacations a stay at home for many families.
To have a Plan B they would need a Plan A. No one in City management has a plan, they only do what was done the year before and either add a little or keep it the same.
These unprecedented times are affecting us all – people’s budgets, company’s budgets, governement’s budgets. It is easy to focus only on blaming the government.
its always easier to point a finger! I for one have always thought depending on tourism to sustain a city was a bad idea. but everyone else seems to think we have nothing else to offer, and citys are a “business” and should be making money. ( not looking to talk about where our cities money comes from, this isnt the place )
When “government” is the biggest employer in the city, revenue has to come from somewhere. Since “government” produces nothing other than brining in outside grants that come with so many strings attached, any sense of local decision making autonomy is thrown out the window. Tourism and pensions (affluent retired persons) was the primary ecomic driver in the 1970’s. Now it is “government”. And Cottage Hospital, who essentially floats on “government” subsidized health care delivery too -Medicare, MediCal and government employee health insurance plans. How does one build a sustainable municipal model off primarily “government” funding? Goleta looks like it took all the private high tech industry resources. SB is not an industrial or manufacturing town. Small businesses got crushed. So its one remaining independent strength, like it or not, is the hospitality business – which has been materially harmed by accommodating the recent massive vagrancy invasions. Challenges lie ahead ,but building on only wishful thinking solves nothing. Hard knocks and reality bites are necessary. Covid pushed the re-set button and everyone must engage in this re-visioning and buy-in process. Which also means masses of new “affordable housing” (government expense subsidized housing ) have absolutely no role to play in this new sustainable economic model.
You think it is better anywhere else? We are still a paradise compared to most of CA unless you live in a gated enclave like Hope Ranch or Montecito. All those people down at the Waterfront on weekends attests to that.