By Sarah Lombardo
A recent study shows that the city of Saratoga receives significantly less sales tax revenue than one of its West Valley neighbors with a similar population.
According to the study, Saratoga, with a population of 28,061, received only $24 per person in sales tax from the city's local share of county sales tax for the past year. Los Gatos, which has a population of 28,951, received $150.18 per capita in sales tax revenue from that town's local share of sales tax for the past year.
The study, conducted by Municipal Resource Consultants for the city of Saratoga, compared 132 California cities that comprise 75 percent of the state's population, municipal tax revenue and assessed value. Consultant Lynda Treadway said the report zeroes in on the 1 percent of the county's 7.25 percent sales tax that actually comes back to the cities and works out how much per capita cities are receiving. The purpose, she said, is to show officials in local city governments how to optimize their revenue.
Treadway said Saratoga's low level of sales tax revenue compared with Los Gatos and other cities similar in population opens the door to the possibility of attracting more business to the area.
"[Saratoga] doesn't have a lot of retail sales activity in that city, but that is the reason why [Saratoga's sales tax revenue] is much lower than other cities," Treadway said. "There is room for attracting development."
Saratoga Finance Director Thomas Fil said the study shows that Saratoga provides core services to its residents with less revenue than other cities.
"The survey indicates from a business perspective that there are some opportunities, but from an efficiency perspective, it shows Saratoga's more efficient than our neighbors," Fil said. "We are clearly more productive."
Fil said that in response to inquiries from residents, he also conducted a study on the number of city employees compared with the number of Saratoga residents. What he found, Fil said, was that Saratoga also has the lowest employee/resident ratio of some of its West Valley neighbors.
According to Fil, Saratoga has one city employee for each 540 residents, compared with Campbell, which has one employee for each 450 residents; Los Gatos, which has one employee for each 387 residents; and Cupertino, which has one employee for each 369 residents.
Thomas said the survey could be a factor in the aftermath of the failure of Measure L, which would have continued Saratoga's utility tax, on Nov. 5.
This article appeared in the Saratoga News, November 27, 1996.
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