1/2 percent sales tax, Measure U: Sebastopol has overspent. The current city council has trimed a great deal out of the budget but not yet enough so that income is equal to expenses. This 1/2 percent sales tax will give Sebastopol time to re-adjust and re-allocate expenses.
You might ask, why not just cut all expenses and be done? One reason, there are non-profit services funded by Sebastopol. Cutting their budgets to zero would balance the budget but it would also kill those non-profits. Instead, their budgets are being reduced over time so that they can find alternate funding.
Sebastopol has been our home since 2011. Myself, wife, and daughter moved here from the East Bay: Emeryville and before that Berkeley. We visited cities from Ashland to San Diego, and decided to make Sebastopol our forever home. I was running two businesses in Berkeley, and did a lot of commuting. It was worth it.
I’m the past chair of the Sebastopol Library Advisory Board, now vice chair. Wanted to make sure our amazing library would continue to be available. I’m in the library several times a week. Our library provides helpful social services and is a meeting place for all sorts of special interests. It’s awesome.
I look at the Sebastopol city budget shortfall and wonder why it wasn’t obvious that expenses were exceeding income. Had someone done some simple spreadsheet projections, the sudden drastic increase in water bills could have been avoided.
Sebastopol is a great town and I want to make sure it does not go bankrupt. We cannot spend money that we do not have. I want to work within a budget to keep core services available to all that live here so that Sebastopol remains a special place.
keenethery@elloco.com