Raising the sales tax in Lompoc is one path to revamping the city’s deteriorating streets, but it’s not a road some local leaders want to take.
During the Lompoc City Council’s Aug. 20 meeting, Councilmember Jeremy Ball and Councilmember Dirk Starbuck responded to city staff’s presentation on potential options to improve road health with differing conclusions.
“We’ve been sitting here in Lompoc for 10, 15, 20 years watching our streets get worse and worse,” said Ball, who requested that staff research some “out of the box” ideas on how to fund specific remedies for the city’s ongoing road problems earlier in March.
At the Aug. 20 meeting, Management Services Director Christie Donnelly outlined Lompoc’s below par scores in terms of Pavement Conditions Index (PCI) standards, but said the city’s road needs currently exceed its revenue.
According to Donnelly, the city currently dedicates approximately $8.7 million of its budget to road maintenance projects but would need about $85 million to reach the preferred PCI standards.
“Then we would need an ongoing $9 million a year to be able to sustain that,” Donnelly said.
As for determining a clear path to raising those funds, Donnelly said, “There is no magic formula.
“I don’t have great, fantastic magic wand news. ... So what happens? Somebody has to pay more, and the question becomes: Who?” Donnelly said. “Unfortunately, I believe that the answer is, if we want to go faster, and more urgently towards this, then we ... look at residents and visitors having to carry the burden.”
Donnelly clarified that the sales tax increase option was included in the presentation not as a staff recommendation, but as an option for the City Council to consider implementing in the future.
“I personally don’t have the perfect answer either,” said Ball, who later supported Mayor Jenelle Osborne’s proposal for staff to conduct a public survey that includes ample info on the issue and the potential sales tax resolution.
“The community is going to have to lead on saying, ‘Well we might be willing to do something,’ ... but I want to just throw this out there for context. We’ve had many [frustrated] people in the community,” Ball said. “I understand. I have to drive on the same potholes on Walnut sometimes. ... It’s frustrating.”
Ball said that if the city is looking “for a realistic way” to fast-track better road health in Lompoc, raising sales tax a quarter of a cent should be discussed.
“If my rough math is correct, that would equate to maybe upward of $2 million a year extra,” Ball said.
Councilmember Starbuck opposed the sales tax increase suggestion and said Donnelly’s presentation would have benefitted from statistics regarding state gas tax increases.
“Every six months I’m thinking we get a pretty good bump at the pump,” Starbuck said. “How much does that trickle down to us? ... We should be seeing a significant increase in our tax revenue coming back. Have we ever?”
Donnelly replied that staff would have to look up the exact numbers that the city gets each year.
“We do get a little bit more, ... but it’s not a huge amount,” Donnelly said before staff received direction to work toward compiling a survey and other educational resources on the road improvement issue for the public.
