SDCTA is NEUTRAL on Measure Q (Nov 2016) - "Del Mar One Cent Sales Tax"
The City of Del Mar operates with responsible financial planning and monitoring practices. Its budget has been balanced the last ten fiscal years, and it consistently maintains responsible reserve levels. The City has made several adjustments to its pension, staffing, sewage, and other programs that have resulted in significant savings for taxpayers. The City's debt per capita has been slowly increasing, namely due to capital improvement projects. One area of concern to the SDCTA is that the City's budget for FY 2016 and FY 2017 increased by 75.6% and 50.9% from FY 2015, respectively. This is largely due to plans for funding the development of a new City Hall/Town Hall and infrastructure, street, and utility projects. Notwithstanding the potentially misleading "independent oversight committee" on this general sales tax for which promised expenditures are not binding, the sales tax does have the potential of accelerating Del Mar's capital improvement projects. Such acceleration of projects can save on future increases in construction costs.