Truckee, Nevada County pen sales tax agreement
TRUCKEE, Calif. — Truckee officials had concerns about the half-cent sales tax for fire prevention.
The town manager, Jennifer Callaway, wanted a sunset on the tax, if it passes in November. Councilman David Polivy said it would push his town’s sales tax rate to 9%.
Their concerns, expressed at an Aug. 9 meeting, helped get a 10-year sunset on the measure that will go to Nevada County voters. It also led on Tuesday to the supervisors’ unanimous passage of a memorandum of understanding about how tax dollars would be divvied up.
Measure V, the designation for the half-cent sales tax initiative, needs a simple majority to pass.
If it passes, eastern county would get about 25% of the annual revenue. The sales tax is expected to generate some $12 million a year.
One million dollars a year would go to Truckee, while another $2 million would be used for regional eastern county projects, officials said.
Memorandums of understanding for Grass Valley and Nevada City will come over the next several weeks.
“The MOU outlines that the funds to the town of Truckee may be used for projects such as fuel reduction on public properties and roadways or implementing defensible space programs,” said Taylor Wolfe, county public information officer, in an email. “The funds could be used for projects within the town, Nevada County and Truckee Fire Protection District limits.”
Truckee’s agreement requires the creation of a citizen’s Eastern Technical Advisory Committee, which will include the town manager, fire chief and community experts. It’ll be subject to mandatory audits and have reporting requirements.
Officials have said the money would be used for roadside vegetation maintenance, home visits to talk to people about hardening their property, more green waste drop-off days and as leverage to get more grant dollars.
Alan Riquelmy is the managing editor of The Union. He can be reached at ariquelmy@theunion.com or 530-477-4249
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