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Published on 07/21/1999 All articles from this issue

Council OKs tax hike - now voters to decide

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By Joanne Griffith Domingue / Town Crier Staff Writer

The Los Altos City Council OK'd a utility-user tax hike from 3.5 percent to 6.25 percent. Now the issue goes to voters on the ballot in November.

The increase would raise $1.14 million, said City Manager Phil Rose, and would cost each homeowner about $100.

"We're hearing about residents wanting higher service levels," he said, "especially for traffic enforcement and recreation."

The tax increase would pay for many things, including building recreation facilities and hiring traffic officers.

Even though the council didn't get to the item until after 11:30 p.m. at its July 13 meeting, two stalwarts remained to talk about the issue.

Harry Kallshian said he likes the tax. "The reasons it's such a good tax is that it's very fair," he said. "The more you use the more you pay."

He also likes it because it's easy to collect.

"The utilities do all the work and send a check at the end of the month. It doesn't cost the city one cent to collect it," said Kallshian, a former mayor.

Bob Mills disagrees.

"It's the worst kind of tax. Because it's so easy to collect, you forget about it," Mills said.

He opposes the tax. "If the city wants more money, they should encourage larger commercial developments to generate more sales tax. Just a few major businesses would eliminate the utility tax completely," Mills said.

The programs proposed, "aren't really necessary," he said. He hasn't noticed traffic problems.

And for recreation facilities, "all sorts of buildings are available," Mills said. "Like the proposed gym for Miramonte School. They said they would make it available to the community.

The utility-user tax increase, Mills said, "just isn't necessary."