TAX NEWS - June 2010

Kensington residents approve higher police tax

Kensington residents approved Measure G on Tuesday, a parcel tax of $200 adjusted for inflation to fund police services.

The voters approved the tax with all four precincts reporting. The measure needed a two-thirds majority to pass and received 70 percent of the vote. The final tally may change slightly as the last absentee ballots are counted.

The tax is in addition to an existing $300 per unit tax approved by voters in 1995.

"Kensington has shown that it has the political will to avoid the fiscal crises that has come or will soon come to many California communities," Kensington Police Protection and Community Services board president Chuck Toombs said.

KPPCSD board member Cathie Kosel opposed the tax. She said her work is not done just because the measure passed.

"I hope that this board (the KPPCSD board) will commit themselves to making some courageous changes to give the residents of Kensington the excellence in police services that they believe they have but that they don't have," she said.

Supporters of the measure had noted that expenses had increased since the 1995 parcel tax, which was prohibited from being indexed for inflation.

Supporters, including the district's board of directors, insist the higher tax is needed to offset an estimated $364,000 deficit in the 2010 budget. Though the current tax has been adequate to pay for the 10-member force in the past, inflation and declining tax revenues have combined to create the projected deficit.

The board studied contracting with an outside agency for police coverage, but a consultant study determined that their would be no cost benefit, Measure G's supporters said.

Critics opposed Measure G's open-ended inflation provision and insisted the community could save money by merging the police district with the Kensington Fire Protection District as recommended by the Contra Costa County Local Agency Formation Commission.

Kensington's police department was created in the 1940s. The department is funded for 10 sworn officers and one chief — there is currently one vacancy on the force. The parcel tax would raise up to $440,000 per year if fully collected. However, Toombs said that in years when not as much money is needed, the tax would be reduced to whatever was necessary to cover funding.