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Contra Costa County, CA November 6, 2012 Election
Smart Voter

Extending the Utility Users tax

By Ivette (Fuentes) Ricco

Candidate for Council Member; City of Pinole

This information is provided by the candidate
I support the extension of the UUT.
The City of Pinole, like many other California cities has used the Utility Users Tax to enhance revenue. UUT rates vary from 1% to 11%. Utility Users Tax Facts. This tax is a general tax that requires a majority 50%+1 vote to pass. The revenue generated will go to the General Fund (GF). The current Utility Users Tax (UUT), 8% for eight years, was approved by the voters in 1998. The UUT accounts for approximately 20% of the City's revenue, or $2 million. With the State of California raiding local city coffers in order to balance its budget, every dollar the city receives in revenue is in jeopardy, unless, it is revenue that is locally controlled. The UUT is such a tax and therefore the revenue derived from the UUT can not be taken by the State.

I favor the extension of the UUT because we need to have this revenue source in order to allow us time to re-evaluate our expenses, review our organizational structure and develop new sources of revenue. Without it the city will continue its free fall.

Without the UUT the things that make Pinole a place people want to live and invest in, a safe, clean city, with parks, a community Swim Center and Pinole Cable TV access, are in jeopardy. There is no guarantee that the State will not find new and creative ways to raid our cookie jar. But, with the extension of the UUT, we can roll up our sleeves, take a good hard look at where we are, where we're going and begin to develop a plan for the future of Pinole.

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