'No on O'
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Editor:
Measure O proposes to raise the sales tax by 1 percent countywide. Eureka has a 9.25-percent sales tax, and Arcata is poised to follow. If approved, our sales tax would be 10.25 percent, on par with the highest in the U.S.
Measure Z (the 2014 half-cent increase) was promised as a solution to budget shortfalls and to increase funding for "roads and public safety." Z-funding for roads is a small percentage of the total and has dropped every year. The county chooses to fund hotel rooms for the homeless instead.
Measure O adds $24 million annually to the county budget, with no limits on how the money will be spent. If approved, there is no incentive to cut costs and use current funds efficiently.
Increasing taxes on the hard-working, tax-paying residents of an economically depressed county is not the solution to current mismanagement and reckless spending. Vote no on O!
Deborah Lynne, Eureka
