KERN VOTERS FACING SALES-TAX MEASURE COUNTY WOULD RAISE OVER $920 MILLION FOR TRANSPORTATION PROJECTS.Byline: JIM Jim Miss Watson’s runaway slave; Huck’s traveling companion. [Am. Lit.: Huckleberry Finn] See : Escape SKEEN Staff Writer ROSAMOND -- Offered on the theory that the best way for Kern Kern, river, 155 mi (249 km) long, rising in the S Sierra Nevada Mts., E Calif., and flowing south, then southwest to a reservoir in the extreme southern part of the San Joaquin valley. The river has Isabella Dam as its chief facility. County to get help with its roads is to help itself, a half-cent sales tax sales tax, levy on the sale of goods or services, generally calculated as a percentage of the selling price, and sometimes called a purchase tax. It is usually collected in the form of an extra charge by the retailer, who remits the tax to the government. is expected to be put before voters to help pay for transportation projects. After nearly four years of work, proponents are closing in on placing a half-cent sales tax on the Nov. 7 ballot. The tax measure, if approved by a two-thirds majority, is expected to raise more than $920 million over a 20-year period. The tax is also expected to aid the county in seeking state and federal road dollars, which tend to go to counties that are able to contribute matching funding for projects. ``The ultimate goal is to be a self-help county,'' said Dan Ingram, a member of the Kern Taxpayers for Safety and Traffic Relief, the tax's backers. ``It opens the door for more dollars to come in.'' There are 18 counties in California The U.S. state of California is divided into fifty-eight counties. Counties are responsible for all elections, property-tax collection, maintenance of public records such as deeds, and local-level courts within their borders, as well as providing law enforcement (through the county that have similar taxes in place. ``What I like is that it doesn't fall just on property owners,'' Ingram said. ``It falls on residents. It falls on tourists. It falls on anyone buying anything in Kern County.'' County supervisors are expected to vote Tuesday to place the measure on the ballot. The measure includes a list of projects to get funding from the tax. In the Antelope Valley This article is about the Los Angeles County region. For the census-designated place in Wyoming, see Antelope Valley-Crestview, Wyoming. The Antelope Valley portion of Kern County, the tax is expected to provide about $53.2 million over 20 years. The measure's project list includes $9.4 million to widen Twenty Mule Team
Twenty mule teams were teams of eighteen mules and two horses attached to large wagons that ferried borax out of Death Valley from 1883 to 1889. Road from California City to Highway 58; $5.4 million for North Gate Road from California City to Highway 58; $5.4 million for a bridge over the Union Pacific Railroad Union Pacific Railroad, transportation company chartered (1862) by Congress to build part of the nation's first transcontinental railroad line. Under terms of the Pacific Railroads Act, the Union Pacific was authorized to build a line westward from Omaha, Nebr. tracks at Rosamond Avenue; and $5.4 million to extend K Street over Highway 14 in Mojave. The project list was developed with public input during more than 30 workshops held across the county, said Ron Brummett, executive director of the Kern Council of Governments, a regional planning regional planning: see city planning. body. The measure would provide $12.9 million for the county for road repair and maintenance in southeast Kern. California City would receive an additional $3.2 million for repair and maintenance of its city streets. Countywide, the tax would provide more than $346 million toward road repairs and maintenance. Kern COG estimates a cost of more than $500 million for the 11 cities and the county itself to bring all roads All Roads is a 2001 interactive fiction game by Jon Ingold that placed first at the 2001 Interactive Fiction Competition. It also won the XYZZY Awards for Best Game, Best Setting and Best Story and was nominated for Best Individual Puzzle and Best Writing. up to standards. An additional $7.2 million is budgeted for transit, transportation enhancement and air quality projects, such as purchasing natural gas buses. The tax expenditures would be overseen by a nine-member citizens panel. The measure requires annual, independent audits, Brummett said. The measure also includes a provision for stopping the collection of the tax if state lawmakers attempt to raid the funds the way dollars from Proposition 42, the state gas tax approved by voters in 2002, were taken, Brummett said. james.skeen(at)dailynews.com (661) 267-5743 |
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion