Pass: 41,102 / 68.6% Yes votes ...... 18,787 / 31.4% No votes

See Also: Index of all Measures

The proposed ordinance has no effect on the existing utility user tax applied to electrical, gas and water services.

The existing ordinance was written in 1970 and updated in 1988 and 2003. The current tax rate is 5%. The ordinance has become outdated due to rapid advances in technology, as well as new legislation and federal and state court decisions that limit the application of the tax. Currently, the City does not tax many communication services and devices that have recently come into existence, such as voice-over-internet protocol. In addition, recent federal court decisions have cast doubt on whether the current ordinance can be imposed on long distance, cellular and bundled telephone services. Should the City be sued, or if adverse decisions are reached that are binding on the City, the revenue collected from the current ordinance would be reduced substantially. The 2009-2010 revenue from the cable and video tax is projected to be approximately $8,725,000 ($6,650,000 telephone and $2,075,000 video). This total is less than the previous year tax total of $9,292,158 because there are less telephone and video services that the City is able to tax. Adoption of the proposed ordinance would protect the City from adverse litigation as well as capture telephone and video services that are being eroded from the City tax base because of changing technology.

A "yes" vote is in favor of adopting the updated communications tax ordinance summarized above. A "no" vote is against adopting the ordinance. A majority of "yes" votes is required for the ordinance to be enacted.