Many residents have expressed concerned regarding a tax proposal that Hesperia voters may soon face on a ballot.
Before discussing the proposal, it’s important to clear up a common misunderstanding. When people say Hesperia is “doubling the sales tax,” they are usually referring to the City’s local portion increasing from 1% to 2%, which is an increase of one percentage point.
The total sales tax rate would rise from 7.75% to 8.75%, so while Hesperia’s share would double, the overall sales tax paid at the register would increase by one cent on every dollar spent. (Basically, this proposal will NOT raise sales tax from %7.75 to 15.5%)
“Hesperia has about 540 miles of roads and has improved roughly 95 miles over 16 years. That works out to about 6 miles a year. At this current pace, it may take around 90 years to touch every road mile once….” (Source: Hesperia OpenGOV)
When it comes to taxes, many residents are rightfully skeptical of any tax increase for may reasons including the concern that their tax dollars will be wasted, diverted to projects they don’t support, or worse. Hesperia even long before current officials came into office; has clearly had infrastructure issues and simply put, many residents have trust issues when it comes to handing tax dollars over to the city for infrastructure that the city hasn’t received for years.
At the same time, many resident face their own financial struggles as the the economy continues to take a hit. With the circumstances at hand, you cant blame someone for being at least alittle opposed.
On the flip side there’s another problem. WHAT IF Hesperia TRULY needs these funds? It’s important to remember that fixing Hesperia’s infrastructure problem involves years of catching up with things like deferred maintenance, infrastructure projects, road improvements and more. (Not to mention inflation driving up the cost of these projects, especially for things like construction.)
If our city needs repairs and continues to lack proper funding while Hesperia’s population inevitably continues to grow then inevitably citizens may face larger repair costs down the line . This can include things such as more car maintenance repairs, flood damage repairs from proper drainage infrastructure, insurance cost increased, safety issues and more. (Speaking of cars, you can’t forget rising car repair and maintenance costs)
Many residents are concerned because the proposed sales tax would go into the city’s general fund, meaning the money could legally be used for a variety of city services and not just road repairs. While this is true, its important to also remember that roads often depend on or feature related infrastructure such as sidewalks, drainage systems, traffic signals and a variety of other aspects of infrastructure.
Nevertheless, It’s understandable why some people prefer a special tax that can only be spent on one thing, because it feels safer and more accountable and in some circumstances it might be. The challenge is that fixing roads often requires paying for other things too, like storm drains, traffic signals, engineering studies, and utility work underneath the pavement. If the rules are too restrictive, the city could end up with money set aside for asphalt but not enough flexibility to fix the drainage problem that keeps damaging the road in the first place. In simple terms, it’s like having money to buy a new roof but being told you can’t spend any of it fixing the leak that’s causing the roof to fail.
An effectively designed special-purpose tax COULD guarantee funding for specific projects but on the other side, it potentially COULD create additional restrictions and administrative hurdles that make it harder and in some cases more expensive / tedious for the city to maintain a vastly connected piece of infrastructure such as our roads. With that being said, it is still understandable why many prefer a special tax that can only be spent on one thing.
A special tax feels safer and more accountable. Under the right circumstances and with the right fore-thought it could prove to be effective BUT if there is too much restriction then the city could end up in a situation with tax dollars being set aside for a project but not enough flexibility to fully address or fix the problem.
For example, sometimes the road itself is just the symptom and not the cause. (Especially when the city may need to fix other things such as pipes, drains, utilities and more.) Not to mention the amount of roads Hesperia has and the amount of time it would take to get them revitalized.
Based off OpenGOV – Hesperia has about 540 miles of roads and has improved roughly 95 miles over 16 years. That works out to about 6 miles a year. At this current pace, it may take around 90 years to touch every road mile once and that’s BEFORE accounting for roads that deteriorate again and need another round of repairs as well as the increasing costs that will continue to make the repair and maintaintance of roads more expensive as years go on.
As Hesperia’s population continues to grow and infrastructure continues to age and deteroriate, can the City’s existing revenue realistically keep up with road repairs, drainage improvements, sidewalks, public safety needs, and the concerns residents have raised … or is the community potentially facing a funding gap that will only become more expensive to address over time?
Hesperia’s infrastructure deficit is like a giant zit that’s been forming for decades. Every year as the roads age, drainage systems wear down, and new residents add demand, the pressure grows a little more. The debate isn’t whether the problem exists it’s whether the city should deal with it now or risk a much costlier mess later.
That, and if this new sales tax isn’t passed, what can Hesperia realistically do fix this problem?
