El Monte Votes To Place Sugary Tax Measure On November Ballot
EL MONTE (CBS) —In a unanimous 5-0 vote, the city of El Monte voted Tuesday night in favor of placing a sugary drink tax measure on its November ballot.
The move comes in an effort to avoid being yet another California city to declare bankruptcy. In November, residents of El Monte will decide whether to tax a one cent, per ounce on sugary beverages sold within city borders.
If approved, the measure could bring in between $3.5 to $7 million of revenue to the city.
The San Gabriel Valley suburb of 114,296 people, according to the latest Census numbers, is facing low revenues, high labor costs and a sharp drop in funding from the state. The combination has forced the City Council to consider declaring a fiscal emergency and seek the sugary drinks tax for the November ballot, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Stockton, San Bernardino and Mammoth Lakes have all recently filed for bankruptcy, and the city of Compton says it will be just a few months before it runs out of cash.
The sugary beverages tax could help fill the funding gap that El Monte officials are expecting when a half-cent sales tax expires in 2014.
The cost for the special election in November will cost the city about $65,000.
