Salinas, Carmel pass sales tax measures, while Pagrovians just say no to Measure F.

For Good Measure: Salinas Councilwoman Jyl Lutes (pictured with her son), co-chaired a successful campaign to make a once-temporary half-cent sales tax measure permanent. And while leading the charge on Measure E, she also handily won re-election. Photo by Nic Coury.

Salinas, Carmel pass sales tax measures, while Pagrovians just say no to Measure F.

By Kera Abraham, Mary Duan, Sara Rubin

Thursday, November 8, 2012

The Texas developer who proposed a seven-story hotel on Pacific Grove’s Holman Block will have to rethink his plans. Measure F, which would have raised the building height cap to accommodate the proposal, took a sound drubbing Tuesday. 

P.G. Councilman Bill Kampe, who led the mayoral race against incumbent Carmelita Garcia, planned to discuss the implications with City Manager Tom Frutchey.  

“It means we get a fresh dialogue with the property owner and the developer,” said Kampe, who opposed the measure. “We should be talking to them in the basis of what can work.”  

Also in P.G., a parcel tax to support schools was falling short of the two-thirds majority needed to pass. 

Carmel-by-the-Sea’s Measure D garnered overwhelming support from the 1,000 vote-by-mail ballots counted by Nov. 6. With 77 percent support, the sales-tax hike was backed by a broad coalition. It promises to close the city’s widening budget deficit by boosting Carmel’s current 7.25 percent sales tax to 8.25 percent for 10 years, generating an estimated $2 million a year.  

“This is what happens when you lay out a reasonable plan and demonstrate that things are well-managed,” Carmel Mayor Jason Burnett said.  

In Salinas, months-old polling that showed Measure E would pass with overwhelming support proved true.  

With 45 percent of the votes counted by midnight Nov. 6, a whopping 75 percent backed E, making permanent a half-cent sales tax measure due to sunset in 2016. Passage prevents the closure of the city’s libraries and reductions at a bare-bones police department. 

“It shows we want to pay the taxes that will keep the city running,” said Salinas Councilwoman Jyl Lutes, Measure E Committee co-chair.