SANTA MARIA, Calif. - The city of Santa Maria voted to approve a new sales tax back in June and that tax goes into effect on Monday. It's called Measure U and is a quarter-cent tax on every dollar.
Revenues have been down over $10 million over the last 4 years for Santa Maria, and City Manager Rick Haydon says this allows the city to expand its fire and police workforce.
"This will allow us now to hire the fire fighters for that new station as well as hire the police officers that we've been unable to do because of financing".
And on October 16, the Santa Maria city council meeting will tackle the issue of finding the best way to spend the revenue from Measure U.
The City Manager said the new tax will generate $4 million per year for the general fund.
