The Spirit of the Desert E-Newsletter
The Cathedral City E-newsletter, The Spirit of the Desert, just had its
1,000th hit! The next edition will be published next week. The newsletter
has in-depth information on Cathedral City, allows the reader the chance to
rate and request articles, and participate in surveys. Go to
www.thespiritofthedesert.com
and sign up to be notified when the next issue is released.
Does the Proposed Sales
Tax “Follow Me Around?”
The additional ¾ of 1% sales tax (actually a transaction
and use tax) needs to be looked at two ways: everyday purchases and
purchases of cars, boats, airplanes, and motorcycles.
Anyone, no matter where they reside, who makes an
everyday purchase (clothes, products, home improvement materials, carwash,
etc.) in Cathedral City would pay the additional ¾ of 1% tax.
$500 spent in Cathedral City on everyday purchases would
cost an additional $3.75 – about the price of a double tall mocha.
State tax regulations require cars, boats, airplanes, and
motorcycles to be taxed at the rate of the city in which they are
registered. This is nothing new – it is how tax on the sales of vehicles
operates now. It’s the reason, for example, why Los Angeles residents with
vacation homes in Cathedral City sometimes chose to register their car in
Cathedral City. They pay less because Los Angeles has a higher tax rate than
Cathedral City.
If the ¾ of 1% tax passes, nothing changes – other than
the rate. Anyone purchasing a car and registering it in Cathedral City,
regardless of where they reside, would pay at the Cathedral City tax rate.
If they register the car in another city, they would pay at that city’s
rate.
The tax would not “follow Cathedral City residents
around.” Purchases of cars, boats, airplanes, motorcycles are simply taxed
at the rate of the place they are registered.
Most people don’t buy a car every year. If a person
bought a car for $25,000 and registered it in Cathedral City and didn’t buy
another car for four years, the additional tax would average out to $3.90 a
month over those four years – your double tall mocha could be a triple.
Sewing the Seeds of
Partnership
Or is that mowing them? The American Youth Soccer
Organization (AYSO) has stepped forward to help score a major goal towards
making the soccer park a reality. When you build a soccer park, you need to
maintain it. The city was looking at estimated maintenance expenses of
$325,000 – a challenge for the City’s already over-extended budget. The AYSO
has committed to mowing the soccer field turf, keeping the field and
restrooms clean, repairing pluming and irrigation system parts, and
reimbursing the city up to $5,000 in electricity costs. They will also
purchase the equipment to keep the field mowed and rolled. This
significantly reduces the maintenance costs to the city to an estimated
$73,700. The city will be responsible for water, electricity usage and
repair above $5,000 annually, fertilizer and annual sod, landscaping repair,
replacement and overseeding. AYSO has truly come through in a big way to
help make the community’s dream of a soccer park for local youth come true.
Depending on weather, the park should be ready for play
in late April or early May.
El Gallito and Red
Tomato Stay as They Are
It was announced at the August 9th City Council Meeting
that the El Gallito and Red Tomato restaurant properties will not be
included in the redevelopment plan for the 23-acre area east of the Mary
Pickford Theatre.
Alphabet Soup
Winner of last week’s acronym contest was Teri McKeating
who correctly identified:
A Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation
("SLAPP") is a form of litigation filed by a large organization or in some
cases an individual plaintiff, to intimidate and silence a less powerful
critic by so severely burdening them with the cost of a legal defense that
they abandon their criticism. The acronym was coined in the 1980s by
University of Denver professors Penelope Canan and George W. Pring.
Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act
(“RLUIPA”) is a federal statute that was passed in 2000 to provide
stronger protection for religious freedom in the land-use and prison
contexts.
Ms. McKeating was thrilled with her two tickets to Tahiti
for winning the contest until she realized she was dreaming.
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