Supervisor Simitian cast a deciding vote against putting a measure on the November 2018 ballot to raise the County’s sales tax by a half cent. His vote against the measure was made for two reasons: the County budget had increased to a much greater extent than the County population had during the previous five years; and the sales tax is regressive, impacting lower income residents the hardest. Additionally, Measure B, a sales tax increase for transportation projects had just been approved in 2016, as well as a state-authorized twelve cent per gallon increase in the gas tax.
