Hundreds of thousands of South Coast voters may be asked to approve a sales tax hike to finance new transportation projects. Ventura County, and its cities don’t have the money many community leaders believe they need to tackle major transportation issues like a growing street maintenance backlog, and freeway traffic congestion.
The Ventura County Transportation Commission decided to pursue a ballot measure for a sales tax increase for transportation projects. The plan calls for a half cent sales tax which would raise $70 million dollars in its first year, and $3.3 billion dollars over its 30 year lifetime. 50% of the money raised would go to local street and road repairs.
The rest would go for things like freeway projects, regional road improvements, bus system enhancements, commuter rail projects, and bike and pedestrian projects.
The proposal has to be approved by at least six of the county’s 10 cities which need to represent a majority of the county’s residents before it can be placed on the November ballot.
