City of Santa Barbara considers sales tax increase

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - To help maintain essential services, the City of Santa Barbara is considering to put a half-cent sales tax measure on November's ballot.

The proposed ballot measure is projected to generate approximately $15.6 million annually for public services and city maintenance.

The city is facing a projected $7.1 million deficit that could impact emergency response times from first responders.

If more than 50 percent of voters approve the sales tax increase in November, the new tax rate of 9.25% would take effect on April 1, 2025, and approximately $3.9 million could be collected for the 2025 fiscal year. 

Currently, Santa Barbara's sales tax rate is 8.75 percent, which is equal to what is charged in neighboring cities like Goleta, Santa Maria, and San Luis Obispo and higher than the 7.75 percent sales tax in Ventura.

If approved, the new tax rate would be higher that Carpinteria's sales tax rate of 9 percent but still less than other destination cities like Pasadena (10.25%), Santa Monica (10.25%), and Monterey (9.25).

Voters last approved increasing the city's sales tax in 2018, from 7.75 percent to 8.75 percent.

The city's revenue working group evaluated a variety of revenue generating options including raising other taxes. The City hosted more than 20 meetings to discuss the potential ballot measure between April and May including a public poll which was presented to the Finance Committee on May 14.

A majority of voters in all council districts supported the measure according to the poll conducted by Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin, Metz & Associates (FM3 Research). However, support in the measure diminished slightly between polling.

In May 2023, 66% of people polled said they would vote in favor of the measure however, a year later 59% of people said they would vote in favor, according to presentation by FM3 during the finance committee meeting.

City staff will present the proposed ballot measure and results of the poll to city council on Tuesday, June 4.