Arcadia, Sierra Madre and Bradbury are holding elections today on tax measures and city council members. Arcadia voters will choose two City Council members from the candidates running--Gary Kovacic, John Wuo, Sho Tay, Henry Nunez, and Mary Dougherty--and vote on Measure D, the extension ofthe hotel room tax from a 30-day maximum to a 90-day stay. Arcadia's election is being conducted through an all-mail ballot for the first time.
Measure A would increase sales tax by .75% to bring local Arcadia sales tax rate to 10.25%. It will be placed on a June 4 mail-in ballot. If passed, Measure A would yield about $8.6 million annually, which would be dedicated to keeping city services at the levels residents have come to appreciate.
Online company Expedia has pulled out of the Arcadia, CA marketplace because of the recently approved Measure D, which adds a 10 percent hotel occupancy tax to services provided by online travel companies.
Arcadia voters have approved ballot Measure A with 2091 people voting yes and 643 voting no. The measure protects the city's right to collect taxes on cell phone use. Measure A will not raise taxes.
Arcadia certifies city council election victories for John Wuo and Gary A. Kovacic. The results were certified this week after election officials were able to verify and count 661 of the remaining 681 ballots of the April 10 election. There were 105 ballots that had to be disqualified because voters selected more than 2 candidates in the all-mail election. At least some of those were caused by an error in the ballots' Chinese-language instructions that directed voters to select no more than 3 instead of 2 candidates, prompting the city to send out correction notices. Gene Glasco was elected City Clerk. Measure D, the hotel room tax, passed.
Arcadia voters will decide, in a special election next week, whether or not to approve ballot Measure A, which seeks to protect the city's right to collect taxes on cell phone usage. Measure A would not raise any taxes. The city already collects taxes on residential cell phone usage and is seeking to legally protect that practice by redefining what constitutes a telecommunications tax.
A class action lawsuit filed against the city of Arcadia and Extended Stay Hotels claims the city "improperly levied a daily room tax" on guests staying beyond 30 days and violated state and local law.
Voters max out Arcadia sales tax. Huge lead for Measure A pushes levy to 10.25% ceiling set by state. The election was conducted exclusively by mail. The vote was for a .75% sales tax increase to bring the tax from 9.5% to 10.25%. This hike could bring in $8.6 million annually to keep city services, especially public safety, at current levels.
Measure A appears to be failing, newcomers likely to join council. Voters on Tuesday shot down Measure A (repeal of Utility Users Tax) and appear to be electing Peter Amundson and April Verlato for Arcadia City Council. Measure A did not pass. 64 percent of votes were cast against the measure, which needed a simple majority to pass. Amundson and Verlato will be sworn in April 26.
Measure A seeks to repeal utility users tax in Arcadia, on the April 12 ballot. The utility users tax is a source of revenue expected to generate $7 million for the city this year. Arcadia charges residents 7% for gas, water, and electricity, and 5% for telephone on utility bills. The city estimates each household pays less than $10 per person per month on average. The tax is 12.5% of the city's $54.9 million general fund budget. If repealed, it would mean a 12.5% cut to city services, including cutting 12 police officers, closing a fire department, increasing blight, street sweeping would be reduced from weekly to every other week. Programs for children and seniors would be eliminated and library and museum hours would be reduced significantly. Larry Papp helped author the initiative.
A parcel tax in Arcadia appears to pass. Voters appear to have narrowly approved a parcel tax measure that will raise $3.4 million for the Arcadia Unified School District each year for the next five years, according to preliminary results. If the outcome is finalized, property owners would pay $228 per parcel per year in an effort to stave off additional cuts in the classroom. Measure A, which required a two-thirds vote to pass, was approved by 67.61% of those who voted in the district's boundaries. The vote should be finalized tomorrow.
The City Council increased the bed tax, charged to customers staying in a hotel, from 8% to 10%. The increase will generate an estimated $140,000 a year, which would help to close the city's projected $2.2 million shortfall in the 1993-94 budget.
Arcadia voters will decide on ballot Measure I, Measure N, and Measure P on November 7, 2006. Measure N has to do with billboard-type signs. Measure I calls for residents to finance a bond if the district wants to erect new buildings for public schools. Measure P has to do with charging for parking at The Shops at Santa Anita.
Arcadia seeks to extend the right to collect cell phone usage tax. Officials plan to hold a special election in May or June in 2009 for a ballot measure. If communicated to voters correctly, it should pass, because it would not raise the tax but protect the city's revenues. At stake is about $1 million in yearly revenue. To do that, voters must allow the city to legally redefine what a telecommunications tax is. Recent court rulings have suggested cities cannot tax cell phone use by relying on older telecommunications tax ordinances.
A full page-advertisement paid by Westfield is a letter from Westfield president Ken Wong thanking the Arcadia community for signing petitions limiting billboards and for free parking , to be voted on in the November 2006 general election ballot.
Zoning codes: Arcadia measure on mansionization qualifies for ballot. If adopted the initiative would create a citywide floor area ratio (FAR) which would set much tighter restrictions on square footage. Lisa Mussenden said it could be on the ballot as soon as November 2016 or as late as April 2018. Saving Arcadia is the group behind the initiative.
Cities fighting a sports betting ballot initiative. A coalition claims the state measure, from Pechanga Resort Casino, referred to as the Tribal Sports Wagering Act, would fuel excessive litigation against card rooms, potentially shutting them down, effectively killing 32,000 jobs. It would allow sports wagering at tribal casinos and at four California racetracks-Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, Los Alamitos Race Course in Cypress, Del Mar in San Diego, and Golden Gate Fields in Berkeley.
Stephen Deitsch, Arcadia's City Attorney, wants residents to know he has not taken a position on ballot Measure N or Measure P. Westfield Group has published campaign materials that might lead residents to believe Deitsch has taken a stance.