Goleta City Council workshop to discuss spending priorities for potential 1% sales tax measure

GOLETA, Calif. - Reynaldo Ybarra has lived in Goleta for thirty years, and he won't have it any other way.

"It’s a beautiful place to live that’s why people come here I like the fact that we care about our environment, the safety of our community and each other. Goleta is a special place that’s why they call it the Goodland," said Ybarra.

The Proud Goleta resident who attended the Goleta City Council Workshop on Tuesday, wants to see the city continue to make progress.

"Right now I just saw the conditions of our roads. I’ve always been concerned about our roads and our pavements. I do walking and I do driving and I see the conditions of the roads and I know they’ve inherited some bad roads," said Ybarra.

During Tuesday's workshop, council members discussed a potential one percent Sales Tax Measure for the city.

"From my perspective, focused on what are the things that our city needs to do to meet our challenges, to ensure that we are being good stewards of taxpayer dollars, and take care of what we have for the public and also for future generations," said councilman James Kyriaco of the City of Goleta.

Part of the spending plan discussed included keeping public areas safe and clean, and improving sidewalks and roadways.

"I thought it was a good discussion. I thought we covered the rationale of why we would want to look for a sales tax now … And we’ve covered some of the things we’ve been unable to fund, the people think are important or essential. For example maintaining our pavement" said councilman Stuart Kasdin of the City of Goleta.

If approved, the measure would be placed on the November 2022 ballot for Goleta voters to consider.

"I’d like more information but we live in a nice place … there’s a cost for living in a beautiful place… and that’s Goleta … so something to look at," said Ybarra.

The next step is the city council will vote on the sales tax at the upcoming meeting on June 21.

Their hope is to learn what the community's spending priorities are in the event a sales tax measure is approved by voters.

The city council believes in order to address important unfunded capital projects, the city will need to establish a locally controlled source of ongoing funding.