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Measure P sees strong support
Dawn La Bar, left, legislative and special project manager for the City of Fairfield, celebrates early Measure P results with council members John Mraz and Rick Vaccaro, right, during an election night party at he Paradise Valley Golf Course. (Brad Zweerink/Daily Republic)
FAIRFIELD — Fairfield voters overwhelmingly passed the 1 percent sales tax, which city leaders claim has preserved the city.
Measure P had received 66 percent of the vote as of press time, which had all those that worked to pass it with a lot to celebrate.
“It saved this city,” Councilman John Mraz said after the first round of numbers were released. “It allows this city to serve the people. I want to thank the voters for having the vision to keep it safe and functioning.”
Measure P is a general purpose tax that requires a 50 percent vote. The city has said the $12 million to $13 million per year for five years would go toward police and fire services, seniors, after-school programs and parks.
Some City Council members have publicly stated that they would like to see some of the money put into reserves. Others said they would like to see it used for maintenance and hiring a finance director. The council has not had any public conversations about the use of Measure P money.
Councilman Rick Vaccaro continued to praise the fact that so many different types of people came together, no matter if they supported a tax increase or not. He said the fact that the city’s livelihood was on the line brought all sides together.
“The council pulled together. This had to happen. Everybody worked together,” Vaccaro said. “It was a fight for the soul of the city.”
When David James was tabbed as treasurer for the campaign, it was his first foray into politics. James said he wouldn’t have taken the gig if it wasn’t something he fully believed in. He said he was also surprised by the overwhelming support from residents that haven’t supported tax measures in the past.
“I figured we would be over 50 percent, but the numbers were a pleasant surprise,” he said. “The last one was so long ago people are having a hard time remembering what year it was.”
Mayor Harry Price said Measure P will keep vital services in place and will allow the city to keep functioning.
“First, I want to thank the community for being responsible in the most positive way to help us solve the great financial crisis that so many cities are facing,” Price said.
It will now be seen what happens to the lawsuit filed against the measure in Solano County Superior Court by Central Solano Citizens Taxpayers Group, seeking a disqualification, writ of mandate or injunction. The basis of the argument was the language in the measure wasn’t correct and the threshold for approval should have been a two-thirds majority.
Reach Danny Bernardini at 427-6935 or dbernardini@dailyrepublic.net. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/dbernardinidr.
Danny Bernardini
Discussion | 21 comments
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Rich GiddensNovember 07, 2012 - 6:28 am
Look at the government employees congratulating themselves because Fairfield voters stupidly approved their illegal unspecified specified tax hike. You just gave them a Detroit styled slush fund that they can use for unspecified purposes. Makes me feel good to buy my gas and groceries on base.
Reply |TDMNovember 07, 2012 - 9:20 pm
It'd make us all feel good if you just stayed on base....permanently.
Reply |LoveMyCommunityNovember 08, 2012 - 12:13 pm
maybe locked in one of the water towers....
Reply |CD BrooksNovember 07, 2012 - 6:54 am
Congrats to those of you that voted for measure P. We will now have a little breathing room in hopes of recovery over the next five years. Let’s hope the political wrangling doesn’t force further delays and costs that we cannot afford.
Reply |Mr. PracticalNovember 07, 2012 - 7:02 am
Considering the overwhelming victory, the handful of extremists that make up the Solano Taxpayers Assoc should immediately withdraw the lawsuit. People understood that this mess was due to the economy, housing market and state raids, and not gross mismanagement.
Reply |RichNovember 07, 2012 - 7:30 am
Extremists at the taxpayer's group huh? Why don't you explain the Measure's language of "amongst other purposes". That means other specific purposes that are not listed. Specific purposes require a 2/3ds majority. Dont worry--your corrupt government courts will deny all and your cities fiscal situation will not be solved. It will get worse along with California's economy. You state and local government employees along with your welfare / illegal alien underclass symbiotic parasites own this state---its ruined economy, it's insolvency, it's undesirability, it's horrible hated reputation and it's outcome.
Reply |TDMNovember 07, 2012 - 9:24 pm
You do realize you read like an evil comic book character right? where do you come up with words like symbiotic parasites? Who talks like that? You hate government so much...leave.
Reply |Rick WoodNovember 07, 2012 - 9:33 pm
Actually, let the lawsuit go forward, and lose. It will set a precedent other cities can use.
Reply |MRoseNovember 07, 2012 - 7:46 am
No problem with tax money being used for GOOD purposes but as we have seen in the state of California, tax money is wasted. Hope all those who voted for Prop P will be only too happy to give away more of your money to folks who waste it.
Reply |TDMNovember 07, 2012 - 8:25 am
Mrose, this is why your side lost. You can't make the differentiation between levels of government. Be mad that Prop 30 passed but this is local and easier to be held accountable. Not to mention your clear non understanding of what happened in the past 3 years to lead to this measure. Were you not affected by the housing and market collapse?
Reply |Typical County WorkerNovember 07, 2012 - 8:49 am
There is a lot of waste in all levels of government. From top heavy wages, down to refurnishing the mayor's office, because the newly elected official wants different color oak and leather. I see coworkers not wanting to reuse perfectly good folders because they are not new looking. It is a mindset that money grows on trees in government. It will never get better because we just "throw money at the problem" instead of trying to fix it. (Money does grow in trees) I have to commend the city leaders for starting to try to fix some of the problems but luckily now because P is passed, they don't have to any more, at least until the state offsets more money that would have gone to the city. Now we should give city workers a 15% raise across the board to help reimburse them for their daily suffering of having a job. It will be interesting to see what happens if the fiscal cliff happens.
Reply |Tony NaramoreNovember 07, 2012 - 6:04 pm
Once again naive voters have handed the tax & spend politicians a blank check to spend on their pet projects, public employee unions and themselves. Americans have lost 7 TRILLION dollars of wealth over the last 4 years and like Europe you think we can spend ourselves into prosperity with more taxes. Has it dawned on any of you that our form of heavily beauracracized government with it's generous pay, benefits and pension packages is unsustainable? I have a close relative who retired from his state job last yaer at 90% of his salary. The state promoted his replacement at his former salary so now we are essentionaly paying two people for the one job!
Reply |S KNovember 07, 2012 - 8:38 pm
OH YEAH, JUST GREAT. Shopping in Fairfield will now cost us 1% more for sales tax, Plus the .25% from Twinkle Toes Brown prop 30, for a total of 1.25% more cost for everything taxable. Please hurry up, Suisun WalMart, so we have a REAL place to go other than just Fairfield for many of our needs. IMO, Fairfielders just shot themselves in the foot, BOTH FEET!!!
Reply |rqballerNovember 07, 2012 - 9:16 pm
So SK instead of spending $100 to shop in Fairfield you now have to spend $101.25, REALLY is that your rant? Thank you Fairfield and your 66% "P" approval rate for saving Fairfield from HUGE cuts to parks, safety, etc. I personally applaud the people of the city for seeing through those who just say NO without much thought to the alternative.
Reply |S KNovember 07, 2012 - 9:42 pm
Yup, no matter how small, I'd rather keep that $1.25 in my pocket (Good for buying myself a couple of donuts at Sunset Donuts). You give politicians more money, they will ALWAYS spend more than they have>>>ALWAYS. Look at Brown. And any of you that plan on maybe buying a BIG TKT Item like a $1000 TV, just hold off till Suisun's WallyWorld opens up.
Reply |CD BrooksNovember 08, 2012 - 2:28 pm
Hey SK! Well at least we agree on the president! Governor Brown said there would be painful decisions and he would only raise taxes if the voters agreed, the majority has. He reiterated that position yesterday let’s hope progress makes future requests unnecessary. Fairfield residents read and heard all the information on Measure P. We voted overwhelmingly to accept it. If you choose to shop here, we appreciate your business and contributions to help us maintain our city. I get it, taxes are a pain, but in this case, I believe we did the right thing for our city.
Reply |Rick WoodNovember 07, 2012 - 9:38 pm
Vallejo passed a 1% sales tax too, but they had to go into bankruptcy first. Fairfield is to be congratulated for using that lesson and getting ahead of events. This is a very positive day for our city, and with Proposition 30 passing, for our state as well. About time.
Reply |S KNovember 07, 2012 - 9:46 pm
YEAH YEAH, just keep on keeping on, throwing out good money after bad. MAKE THE POLs live WITHIN a budget like all the rest of us HAVE TO!! How much of ANY raise in salary or benefits have any of you gotten lately???? Probably more give backs if anything.
Reply |rqballerNovember 07, 2012 - 10:40 pm
Thanks Rick for your insight, you have your finger on the pulse and you are FAR more educated than me and probably SK on city politics. SK i don't feel i can make a comment to you that you would agree with, but 66% agree with us and have spoken. It appears that you will just disagree to disagree?
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