Port Hueneme--The City Council received the Measure U Annual Report during its Monday, April 15, meeting.
Measure U is a 1-cent local sales tax that generates $1.8 million in locally controlled funds for the City’s 911 and essential services, which the State can’t touch.
Measure U Chair David Scrivner led the presentation and said Port Hueneme has a small tax base.
“We’re trying to have a good Police station and department, and I think we have quality of life issues here, and I think we’ve done a really good job at this, but there wasn’t enough money to face some of these obstacles,” he said. “In 2018, the Council put a Measure U on the ballot to charge 1 penny for every dollar the citizens of Port Hueneme, called a transition tax.”
He later discovered that it didn’t matter if someone spent money in Oxnard, Port Hueneme, or Camarillo; residents still pay the tax.
“The Council was unclear what the rules were,” he said. “It would take a two-thirds majority that would go to a dedicated purpose, and it took 51 percent that would go into the general fund. The Council was unclear whether they would have enough votes…
