NATIONAL CITY, Calif. — National City voters will decide in 2024 whether the city should establish a special tax on property owners.
The tax would help generate funds exclusively for repairing streets, alleys and improving old parks.
The National City Council approved placing the property tax measure on the 2024 ballot. It would have been on this year's ballot but because of pushback from several councilmembers the process got delayed, missing the 2022 deadline.
Dirt roads, deteriorating streets and sidewalks, and vacant lots, that's what Councilmember Jose Rodriguez of national city showed me while visiting the area.
“We deserve better, having 15%-20% of our allies still being dirty is unacceptable. Having the need of hundreds of streetlights around our city so we can feel safe, walking around our neighborhoods is unacceptable. having 20 empty lots that are owned by the city is unacceptable,” said councilmember Jose Rodriguez.
Rodriguez is hoping taxpayers can help expedite improvements by having taxpayers vote yes to a new property tax that will generate money solely for urgent improvements to city streets, infrastructure, parks and abandoned city owned lots.
“Something that is going to bring value to the community and increase our quality of life. We need a 'we deserve a better city',” said Rodriguez.
Voting for a special property tax also means increasing and adding costs on taxpayers who are already stressed in a struggling economy.
Majority of families living in the area are low income families and according to Data from the Federal Survey of Consumer Finances, higher tax rates on lower-priced properties make it harder for families living in those homes to build wealth and save for the future.
CBS 8 asked Rodriguez how a property tax is reasonable even with state and federal infrastructure funding in place?
“It's $75 for single family homes a year, $365 for industrial properties and $365 for commercial properties, so it will generate about $1.7 millions a year, '' said Rodriguez.
He also said that state infrastructure funding has been slow and with the federal infrastructure bill combined with this property tax, it can be leveraged.
If voters approve the measure in 2024, the City Council will have to decide in future budget meetings whether to finance costs on a yearly basis as the tax revenue is collected or by bonding to collect more money up front for capital improvements.
Most residents seemed to be supporting it, more than 2,800 verified signatures from local registered voters were collected for the measure, proving the urgent need for improvements
“We don't need alleys the way they are, they need to be paved,” said Rodriguez.
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