[img]1305|right|Andy Weissman||no_popup[/img]Talk about a flawless tax scheme.
City Councilman Andy Weissman said it this afternoon:
“If anyone is aware of (the new half-cent sales tax), it is not disturbing people or affecting their buying habits.”
He said it was time to commend City Hall’s consultants who sunnily forecast the present condition with admirable precision.
“The analysis a year ago in May by our consultants, as a lead-up to the decision to put the half-cent on the ballot, indicated that in communities that had approved of a local sales tax, there was no dropoff in retail activity,” Mr. Weissman said. “It was spot-on.”
[img]847|right|Jeff Muir||no_popup[/img]City Treasurer Jeff Muir said that the new sales tax overwhelmingly passed by Culver City voters last November, took effect four months ago, April 1, and appears to be exactly on schedule with the revenue it was predicted to yield:
About $1.8 million the first 90 days, which was channeled into the coffers of the last fiscal year, and $8 million is the projected bump-up for the current fiscal year, which begins its second month tomorrow at midnight.
Eight million dollars hardly is a random figure tumbling from this afternoon’s gorgeous blue sky.
This was a coolly planned calculation.
A sales tax that would raise $8 million in a fiscal year wipes out City Hall’s nagging budget deficit.
Therefore, one fine morning around June 30 of next year, City Manager John Nachbar and others will uncork a victory dance. They will celebrate the first year since the pre-recession days that Culver City was not running a deficit.
(To be continued)
