Yep, our City by the Bay award for stupid parking stuff was well named. Just this month the local supervisors slipped through an ordinance that will be placed on the November Ballot. The "surcharge" says its 10%, but actually it raises the parking tax from 25% to 35%, thus effectively raising the charge 40%.
Not only did the sage supervisors raise the tax on parking, but they specifically say that the amount should be placed in the black hole known as the "general fund." My guess, never to be seen again. Oh, usually a "surcharge" has a start date and an end date. Guess which part didn’t make it into the proposed ordinance?
So every parker in Baghdad by the Bay will pay an extra $2 on every $20 parking fee, every monthly parker will pay an additional $20 on every $200 for monthly parking, and every person being parked by a Valet will pay an extra quarter on that $2.50 charged at a restaurant for parking.
Oh, the ordinance also fixes a loop hole in previous ordinances, adding valet parking to the types of parking charged the tax.
AND,,,,one of the Supervisors got all this done by simply getting three of his colleagues to add their names to the ordinance. But nothing can be done in private, the local unions are up in arms and are opposing the tax.
My opinion, for what its worth, is that the only possible good that could have come from the tax would have been if it had been restricted strictly to repair the infrastructure in the neighborhoods from which the money came. No such luck…Its just a way for the government to get more money to spend on what?
As Larry Elder says, "Bring on the Advil, I have a headache."
JVH
