But recently, the Sunnyvale City Council had the opportunity to ease the financial strain in the community a little, maybe save a few jobs and some of the city's highly regarded services. But in a move that seems incredible, the council backed away from a not-so-difficult decision to bring in some extra money to the city's coffers.

I'm talking about the Aug. 6 meeting when the council decided not to put two measures on the November ballot concerning raising the Business License Tax and the Transient Occupancy Tax.

What was the council thinking?

Every business that operates in Sunnyvale, or in any city for that matter, must pay a business license tax. Sunnyvale's rate may just be the lowest on earth. A one-person business currently pays the city $10 a year to operate in Sunnyvale. A multimillion-dollar business like Lockheed which has thousands of employees pays a whopping $300 a year. These figures were set in the mid-1960s and might have made sense then.

The city never even goes after those who don't file for a license because, at a 10 percent penalty fee, it would cost the city more than the money they might recover.

One of the two ballot measures in question proposed that the business license tax be raised—minimally. A one-person business tax would be raised to $30 a year. A two-to-five-person operation would cost $50 a year. Ten people and the tax would amount to $100 a year. (Ten people can't even have lunch for that.) The amount of the business tax would have raised $5 for every subset of five people in a business. But there would be a cap on the tax. Two possibilities were offered for the cap: one at $9,500 and one at $7,500, chump change for a multimillion-dollar business like Lockheed.

But for the city of Sunnyvale, the net revenue from the higher business license tax—$830,000—could mean the difference in keeping jobs that could in effect make the difference in the services in Sunnyvale.

One of the reasons it's nice to do business in Sunnyvale is because it's one of the safest city's in the nation. The funds could help restore neighborhood resource officer positions slated to be cut These officers work directly with the city's youngsters, and this program has been credited with significantly lowering the city's youth crime rate.

The second measure that could have been on the ballot, the Transient Occupancy Tax, is a little more controversial, because it could take a bigger bite out of the wallet of larger businesses. This tax, commonly called the TOT, is on hotel overnight stays. The proposed measure would have raised the tax by 1.5 percent. On an overnight stay for one room at $100, this would mean an additional $1.50. Not so painful for a business person or a visitor staying even a week. But for some of the larger businesses that bring consultants into town and pay their hotel stays, it adds up. One local company claims to pay $200,000 in TOT a year at the current rate. The additional tax could add another $30,000-plus a year. Yes, it's expensive, but doesn't this sort of expense come out in the wash when business declares this an expense and writes it off?

Some businesses say, yes, the BLT is low but consider all the other expenses across the board that have been going up—rent, insurance, etc. This isn't just true for business. Everyone's medical insurance, rent, gasoline has gone up.

Some council members have alluded to the idea that they don't want business to carry the burden of the expenses in Sunnyvale. Right now when we are all tightening our belts, when employees are donating their vacation time to help out fellow workers, when the city is cutting back on the type of services that make this city a good place to do business, everyone needs to pitch in and help out, including local business. And these measures would have asked little of business but could have helped the city a lot.

One cannot help but question why the council denied the residents of Sunnyvale the opportunity to vote on these measures. Through a survey, the city had learned that the residents would accept a small raise in taxes to keep city services at the current level. At one council meeting, Suzi Blackman, president and CEO of the Sunnyvale Chamber of Commerce, even said that while the Chamber has a policy of opposing any taxes directed at business, many of the board members believed that the business license tax was ridiculously low. Perhaps with the election coming up, the vote was meant to garner support from the business community. Maybe that's what they were thinking.

Sandy Sims is the editor of The Sun. Contact her at 408.200.1055 or via email, ssims@svcn.com.