League of Women Voters of California Education Fund
	Monterey County, CA November 3, 2009 Election
	Measure J Special Parcel Tax City of Pacific Grove 2/3 Approval Required Fail: 2,747 / 65.91% Yes votes ...... 1,421 / 34.09% No votes See Also: Index of all Measures

Arguments For Measure J

Arguments Against Measure J

The Pacific Grove Public Library is the heart of our community, where dreams are born, educations enhanced, and new futures brought to life. Yet, the city has slashed our library's budget and hours more than 50 percent. Anticipated further cuts will be a deathblow. The library is now open only four partial days a week, at a time when residents rely on it more than ever. Donations alone must cover many basics--even children's books and programs. The few remaining staff can no longer provide all services the public needs. Measure J is, at its core, an up or down vote on our library. If Measure J succeeds, the library will stay open. If it fails, it is almost certain the library will close next year. Don't let that happen. Instead, take a stand and say, "I will not let the library close. Not in our town." Vote Yes, and restore a stable, basic level of funding that cannot, by law, be used for anything other than the Pacific Grove Public Library. Vote Yes, and ensure a library that's open at least five days a week and has the money to pay professional librarians. Vote Yes, and reinstate funding for children's story hours, adult programs, and new books, CDs, DVDs, magazines, computers, and reference services. Is our library worth $1.85 a week per parcel, $1.44 for apartments and condos? You decide. Communities with strong libraries benefit from better-educated citizens, less crime, and higher property values. This parcel tax will end in 10 years; low-income households are exempt. Take the politics out of library funding. Keep the library open and help guarantee a vibrant future for our community, an inspirational haven for our children, and a continuing legacy of literacy and learning in Pacific Grove. Vote Yes and ensure the future of the Pacific Grove Public Library. /s/ Judy Wills Retired Teacher /s/ Gail E. Abeloe Business Owner /s/ Richard Stillwell Homeowner /s/ Linda Bailey Co-Chair, PG Reads for the Library /s/ Don Mothershead Rebuttal to Arguments For First, the proponents of Measure J state that, if it fails, "it is almost certain the library will close next year". In fact, the library will probably close even if Measure J passes. In his July 15th "Agenda Report", Director of Management and Budget Jim Becklenberg stated that Measure J funds would not be received until over a year after the measure passes "with full effect not realized until FY 2010/11." Does it make sense to raise taxes to support a bureaucracy that is likely to fail? And if it does fail, you will have voted for $6.3 million in new taxes for a purpose and entity that no longer exists! Second, the proponents suggest some causal connection between libraries and better-educated citizens and less crime. They giveno data to support this contention. In fact, the data show no such correlation: Compton, Oakland, Richmond, and Salinas all have libraries and have the highest homicide rates in the state. The tax would be $96 per year on every parcel of land. Do you value the library at $96 per year? And, if you do, shouldn't you pay a fee rather than voting for your fellow citizens to subsidize you? When profligate government spending forces a realistic possibility of bankruptcy for Pacific Grove, citizens have to settle for essential government services. A library is not one of them. Don't keep enabling the city's fiscal mismanagement with more taxes. Vote "NO" on Measure J. NO NEW TAXES! /s/ Carl A. Mounteer Attorney at Law /s/ David R. Henderson Economist

Last year voters lavished the City of Pacific Grove with perpetual sales tax revenues of an estimated $1.3 million per year. But, predictably, the city still doesn't have enough money. Now they want us to pay more taxes, an estimated $630,000 per year, to keep the library open. This just proves the axiom: no matter how much money you give to a public entity, it will never be enough. They will continue to seek more and more revenues by more and more taxes. The city has admitted as much in its July 15th "Agenda Report" where it states "There will be opportunities for tax elections over the next year...". And with the state poised to raid city revenues, more tax measures are inevitable. The city's fiscal problems are their own creation. For example, because of their servility to the demands of police and fire department employees, the city repeatedly amplified their salaries and pensions: an increase of over 50% for pensions in 2002, a $1 million per year increase for police salaries in 2007, and $1.5 million/year to pay off a loan to pay CalPERS for the $19 million it lost in bad investments. And this latest tax measure is the result of the city's conclusion in their July 15th report "that library services is of [sic]secondary priority". Therefore, they are seeking to take $400,000 from the library to help close an estimated $2 million budget gap and want the taxpayers to finance this with Measure J. Citizens have a duty to set boundaries on taxation. This is because the natural tendency of government is extravagance, waste,and the aggrandizement of public employees. These vices are what led to this latest tax proposal. Don't reward fiscal irresponsibility. Vote NO on Measure J. /s/ Carl A. Mounteer Attorney at Law REBUTTAL Rebuttal to Arguments Against The Pacific Grove Public Library is not guilty of whatever mistakes or bad luck led the city into its fiscal crisis...yet it's the library that now faces the death sentence! What's past is done...let's look at the facts and the stakes today: --As everyone knows, the devastating recession has also been catastrophic for the General Fund, forcing agonizing choices in thecity budget...to the point where our library--already enduring death by slow starvation--may soon be on the chopping block if it does not get its own stable, dedicated revenue source: at least enough to fund a basic level of operations and services. --The anti-J argument cites the high cost of Pacific Grove's public-safety salaries and pensions, and expensive CalPERS losses. Such ballooning costs are the very reason why our library is now desperately shorthanded, almost unable to buy new materials, unable to stay open for even 25 hours per week.... and staring down the barrel at total defunding, and total shutdown. --Measure J will finally give our library its own minimal, basic, steady income: UNTOUCHABLE by the CITY or STATE for any other purpose, BY LAW! --A great library is a city's treasure, provides education and services to all; and helps to boost property values, too! Our library was born over a century ago. Every generation since then has willingly paid the price to keep it both going, and growing! Will we be the ones who drop the torch? SAVE THE LIBRARY + VOTE YES ON MEASURE J! /s/ Moe Ammar Business Leader /s/ Joseph J. Shammas Business Owner /s/ Don T. Gasperson Former Pacific Grove Fire Chief /s/ Susan Steele College Administrator /s/ Laura Courtney Headley Acting Chair, Pacific Grove Public Library Advisroy Board