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Tonight: Portola Valley council considers fate of utility users tax

Original post made on Jan 10, 2018

The Portola Valley Town Council meets tonight to consider the fate of the 4.5 percent utility users tax in a ballot measure in June. Unless the council puts a measure on the ballot, the tax rate reverts to 5.5 percent.

Read the full story here Web Link posted Wednesday, January 10, 2018, 11:50 AM

Comments (5)

Posted by Elaine
a resident of Portola Valley: Central Portola Valley
on Jan 10, 2018 at 3:25 pm


Why does our PG&E bill always show a rate of 6.5%? Does this story have the numbers right?

This tax was put on us years ago when the county told PV that it was not going to get as much in,property taxes as before.Then a couple of years later the county said it had made a "mistake" and reinstated the previous amount. But the utility tax DID NOT GO AWAY, as many thought it should have!
It's time to abolish it now, or drastically reduce it. It amounts to quite a lot in the winter months.


Posted by Liesel
a resident of Portola Valley: Central Portola Valley
on Jan 10, 2018 at 6:31 pm

Liesel is a registered user.

Time to let it go. Many of us will be facing a new tax picture with the new tax laws and don't need this in addition. The School Board will have its hand out for additional, nondeductiable , taxes later this year as well.

Of course, there is no such thing as a temporary tax. Government will always make it difficult to get rid of them.


Posted by PVRes
a resident of Portola Valley: other
on Jan 10, 2018 at 8:37 pm

Yes, time to get rid of this tax. We are so over taxed in this town, which is the real reason so many of the town’s long time residents are leaving. Affordable housing starts with affordable taxes.


Posted by Craig Hughes
a resident of Portola Valley: Woodside Highlands
on Jan 11, 2018 at 9:14 am

@Elaine you're correct: the total rate is 6.5%, I think there's an error/confusion in the first paragraph. The tax is split into two chunks: 2% which goes to the open-space fund, and 4.5% which goes to the general fund. The 4.5% portion is actually a "temporary" reduction from 5.5% as mentioned, which reduction will expire in July if we do nothing. Last night, we agreed to put a measure on the ballot (hopefully in June) to permanently reduce it from 5.5% to 4.5%; the 2% for open space will be unchanged.


Posted by Dave Boyce
Almanac staff writer
on Jan 11, 2018 at 10:11 am

Dave Boyce is a registered user.

The corrections suggested for this story are accurate.

Before coming to work on Wednesday and writing this story, I had had a health scare that apparently affected my concentration and allowed me to bollix the math and the election date. Very sorry for the confusion.


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