No talk of tax measures in Mayor Gloria's State of the City
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Mayor Todd Gloria during his 2024 State of the City speech. Photo: Kate Murphy/Axios
Mayor Todd Gloria had a lot to say on housing, crime, infrastructure and homelessness in his annual State of the City speech, but he was mum on one big election-year topic: Taxes.
State of play: Three tax measures are angling for the November ballot, but Gloria didn't mention any as he laid out a policy agenda for the year.
- Gloria and Councilmember Raul Campillo's support of a citywide sales tax increase to fund general city services has been widely reported, but neither official has publicly stumped for it yet.
What they're saying: Gloria spokesperson Rachel Laing said the absence of tax talk doesn't signal anything.
- "The decision to move forward on a city sales tax measure will be made by a broad coalition of organizations and leaders," she said. "We will share that decision as soon as [it's] made."
- Michael Zucchet, general manager of the city's union for white collar workers and a supporter of the effort, said he "wasn't surprised" it didn't make it into the speech.
- He said supporters would poll the measure soon, but don't have much to do until the Council has to decide to put it on the ballot.
The other measures that went without mention focused on traffic and affordable housing.
- A citizens' initiative to increase county sales taxes for transit, road and infrastructure spending, pushed primarily by local construction unions, did not receive a mention in Gloria's speech.
- Neither did a measure the San Diego Housing Federation, a trade group for affordable housing developers, is pushing that would charge a fee on sales of homes beginning at $2.5 million, to create a revenue source for low-income housing.
What to watch: After the primary election on March 5, attention will shift to the November ballot and whether there's enough space for three local tax increases — assuming all three marshal the support necessary to qualify in the first place.