Noted Bay Area Economist Concludes Measure C will cost City of Pacifica $2,000,000 in Annual Costs, reports Coalition for Housing Equality

Municipal Finance Experts Agree that Measure C Could Be Detrimental to Pacifica's Economic Vitality

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Oct 06, 2017, 13:00 ET

PACIFICA, Calif., Oct. 6, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- San Jose State University Professor of Economics Tom Means concludes in an analysis of the City of Pacifica's Community Preservation, Rent Stabilization and Renters' Rights Act, also known as Measure C, could cost the City of Pacifica $2,000,000 each year to implement. Tom Means also serves on Mountain View's newly formed Rental Housing Committee, where he has witnessed firsthand the financial impact rent control can have on a city. The report was prepared for the Coalition for Housing Equality.

"A more realistic budget for Measure C would fall between $1,500,000 to $2,000,000," said Means. "If the budget was $2,000,000, it would imply a tax on property owners of $909 annually, per unit."

The City of Pacifica has an annual budget of $10,000,000. Measure C would take up 20 percent of the city's operating revenue.

Measure C was placed on the November 2017 ballot by the Pacifica City Council. The Measure calls for placing a $19 fee per unit, per month on Pacifica Property Owners. While Property Owners may pass along that fee to renters there's nothing in Measure C that requires renters to pay that fee. In addition, it establishes a new city department that will be overseen by seven unelected commissioners.

"If the fees assessed to the property owners don't match costs incurred by the unelected rent commission, the City Council will have to finance the shortfall," said Brian Ponty, a former municipal finance director in San Mateo County, who has over 30 years of managing local city finances. "A likely avenue of financing this shortfall will be to ask the voters to approve a tax increase or reduce general fund expenditures for city services."

"The City of Pacifica simply cannot afford Measure C," said Pacifica Mayor Mike O'Neill. "Our budget is already nearly a $1,000,000 in debt with it projecting to increase to $3,220,000 in the next four years. Adding another layer of bureaucracy in our small town is unnecessary, and something I am firmly against."

A full copy of Tom Mean's report can be found at www.samcar.org/coalition-for-housing-equality.htm.