The San Diego County Taxpayers calls upon San Diegans to voice their opposition to a proposal by the San Diego City Council to double the so called “linkage fee” charged to construction projects in the City of San Diego. This fee is yet another short-sighted job killer and SDCTA is strongly opposed to this increase.
The Council will also consider setting this fee on “auto-increase” going forward, a sneaky little maneuver which no longer requires a vote of your elected officials to increase this job-killing tax. This action may be taken despite a historic recession and without regard for the concerns voiced by business leaders that this would further hurt jobs creation and economic recovery in San Diego.
To ensure that your opposition is heard, take action today and contact the members of the San Diego City Council. SDCTA is asking you to join its efforts to convince the Council to oppose this ill-conceived increase in what it sees as a jobs tax. Whether you are a voter, whether you work in the construction industry or an allied field, you will be negatively affected if this increase passes.
Please voice your opposition to ALL of the following elected officials TODAY:
A show of numbers in person at the City Council hearing is always a big plus. If you can make it, attend the City Council hearing scheduled for Monday, July 11 starting at 2:00pm at City Hall located at 202 C Street on the 12th Floor. The agenda is focused on this issue, so you should not wait long to voice your opposition to this proposed increase.
Disclaimer: The San Diego County Taxpayers Association is a client of my public relations firm, Falcon Valley Group.
Comments 4
Gayle:
Can you tell us more about what linkage fees are, how they operate, and what the costs are to firms working in San Diego? Thanks.
It is the most muddle headed thing in the City’s long list of muddle headed arsenal of anti-business tools.
Ignore WHY it is called that (it will make your head hurt and your blood boil) – The per-square fee is charged upon pulling a new building permit and will vary depending upon whether the new construction is office, manufacturing, or retail and goes to “support” affordable housing.
Almost laughable because it ignores what we SHOULD be trying to do – create stable employment opportunities and increasing competition for labor (and thus upward pressure on wages) so that people don’t NEED affordable housing. But that ignores the interest of some of the worst tax-eaters I know – affordable housing DEVELOPERS who make very nice upper middle/upper class incomes building affordable housing projects off the backs of taxpayers. So expect Susan Tinsky to be down there advocating for her members, telling sob stories about unaffordability indexes in San Diego and the council to pass the bloody thing.
BTW – the fact the Chamber hasn’t killed this is testament to how far it has fallen. I hope Paul gets things organized down there – Love him or not Mitch Mitchel did a great job of delaying this thing for almost a decade.
Author
Jim, excellent question and I applaud your willingness to ask it. I called upon Chris Cate, Vice President at the San Diego County Taxpayers Association, for an explanation.
Chris provided such good and thorough information that I wrote it as a post of its own. Once I learned more, the issue becomes even MORE appalling. Erik, Chris is singing your tune.
Follow this link to read it: http://sdrostra.com/?p=18038
Thanks for proving once again that there are no dumb questions!
Gayle: All credit goes to my Father, James Sills Sr., who drilled that concept into his children: If you don”t understand, then ask.” Aye, aye, sir !