Charges for services have been adjusted to reflect the plan check activity expected from the Monterey Park Marketplace development in 2000-2001. The remaining portion of plan checking is expected in 2001-2002. The sales tax is levied on sales of goods at the point of sale. The sales tax is unique in that the business development efforts of a government body can correlate directly with increased revenue. In other words, the more retail sale businesses located in a community, the greater revenue proceeds the community enjoys.
More retail sales equates with an increased ability to pay for our community services.
Unfortunately, we are all too aware that Monterey Park's sales tax per capita performance lags that of comparison cities. Our sales tax per capita average is less than one-half of the average in neighboring cities. For the 2000-2001 fiscal year, sales tax performance is expected to remain approximately the same as the current year. A portion of auto registration and license fees paid by the consumer are allocated to local government. The City's utility tax is imposed on residential and commercial consumption of gas, electricity and phone services.