Second time’s the charm? Although Pacific Grove voters rejected a package of three tax measures last November, the City Council may put two very similar measures back on the June ballot. One would double the sales tax increase that failed at the polls four months ago.

At a special meeting on Feb. 27, after hearing from the local hotel industry, the PG City Council rejected City Manager Jim Colangelo’s recommendation to place a transient occupancy (hotel room) tax increase on the June election ballot.

Now, the under-funded City is re-examining two potential tax generators that failed in November: a removal of the business license cap, which would squeeze higher fees out of bigger businesses such as Trader Joe’s; and a sales tax increase. Though voters denied a half-percent increase four months ago, the newest proposed hike would raise PG’s sales tax a full percent, from 7.25 cents to 8.25 cents on the dollar—the same increase Seaside voters approved in February.

The business license cap removal would generate about $270,000 and the sales tax increase about $1.2 million to $1.4 million per year, Colangelo says.

Chamber of Commerce President Moe Ammar supports both potential measures and hopes residents will get behind them, regardless of their feelings about current city leadership. “This is not about Colangelo or the current council,” he says. “We’re doing this so we can re-open the library on Sundays, and hire somebody to run the museum, and [keep] open the youth center, and hire the two police positions that were eliminated.”

The sales tax, he says, “is the most fair and equitable way to pay into this, whether you’re a visitor or a resident.”

Last November PG voters most soundly defeated the parcel tax measure, with only 43 percent in support. The other two were closer, with 48 percent voting for the business license tax cap removal and 47 percent for the sales tax hike.

Then, there weren’t any outspoken citizen groups vouching for the measures. (California cities are legally barred from spending taxpayer money on political campaigns.) This time, Colangelo figures citizen support could reverse the tax measures’ fate. “There’s been a lot more information going out to the public through the news media about our fiscal problems,” he says. “If there’s a group that’s actually organized and spending money to campaign for the tax, it’s a different situation.”

A half-dozen PG residents came together in late January to form the core of Fair Share, a citizens’ group discussing potential tax measures, says group member Carmelita Garcia. Fair Share joined the Police Officers’ Association in support of putting a TOT tax increase before voters.

A survey conducted last spring showed nearly three-fourths of PG respondents in favor of a TOT increase, Garcia notes. But the City Council didn’t place it on the ballot last November; and now, the Council has decided not to put it on the June ballot either. “For the second time, they have taken our right as citizens to vote [on a TOT tax] away from us,” Garcia says.

The group would prefer that the Council place any tax measures on the November ballot, to allow time for public outreach and education, Garcia says. Members are undecided about whether to endorse the potential sales and business license tax measures on the June ballot. “We’re staying very non-committal,” she says.

The Council is scheduled to discuss the potential tax measures March 5.

THE PG CITY COUNCIL MEETS 6PM, WEDNESDAY MARCH 6 IN THE COUNCIL CHAMBERS, CITY HALL, 300 FOREST AVE., PACIFIC GROVE. 648-3172.