SOLEDAD — The City of Soledad is on the brink of an economic recession and is trying to find new revenue sources to sustain it in the upcoming years.
“Last summer we started thinking about options,” said Nathan Perez of David Taussig and Associates. “We started thinking about sales tax measures, and other options that wouldn’t give you the security that a CFD would.”
According to Perez, a CFD (Community Facilities District) would be able to close the gap between the city’s revenues and its expenditures, money earned versus money spent. David Taussig and Associates drafted some goals and policies for the City of Soledad to adopt.
“It functions very much like the assessment district in the community,” said Perez. “Property based, land secure, very stable source of revenue.”
The City of Soledad would have to adopt a boundary map or jurisdictional boundary of the city. The final piece of developing a CFD is adopting a Resolution of Intention (ROI), the document that starts the process.
“We would come back in February with a full report where we would discuss it in more detail,” Perez said. “And, if the Council chose, we would move forward with a vote of everyone in June.”
All the registered voters would either vote for or against the Community Facilities District. The CFD would be used for public services funding.
“If you miss June you sort of have to go around the next fiscal year,” said Perez.
If the measure was on the June ballot and Soledad residents approved it, then revenue would be seen in December of that same year, whereas if the measure went on the November ballot, revenue would not come until the following December.
