Faced with a healthcare funding crisis due to cuts in federal spending, the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors has placed a sales tax increase measure on the June ballot.
The measure, which requires a simple majority to pass, would add 0.625% to the Orinda’s sales tax, pushing it to 10.375%. If the initiative passes, Orinda and five other cities – including Moraga – would have the second-highest sales tax rate in the county, trailing only El Cerrito and Pinole.
The supervisors made the move in response to HR1 – or the “Big Beautiful Bill” – which will cause 93,000 Contra Costa residents to lose their Medi-Cal coverage and 17,600 to lose their food-assistance benefits. The sales tax would offset the loss of some $318 million in federal funding, and allow the county to continue supplying healthcare services to residents who wouldn’t otherwise have them.
“If we’re not able to serve people at county facilities,” said Candace Anderson, the supervisor representing Orinda, “they will wind up at John Muir and Kaiser.”
Anderson, though, was the only supervisor to vote against placing the sales tax on the ballot, but not because she didn’t think the funding was needed.
Instead, she was responding to criticism from the Contra Costa Taxpayers Association, which pointed out that the original measure misstated the amount of the deficit the county would face.
“There is a need,” said Anderson, “but I wanted to slow down the process so that we can determine what HR1 will actually do to our county, and what we will actually need.”
Anderson would have preferred putting the measure on the November ballot to make sure the information given to the voters was correct and up to date.
For the increased sales tax to be implemented, however, the state legislature must pass a bill authorizing the increase, which would push the rate beyond a California limit on sales tax percentages. That, however, is not considered to be a major hurdle should the measure pass.
Contra Costa County looks to increase sales tax to 10.375%
