A closer look: Pacific Grove’s Measure P

Pacific Grove is in need of money to maintain and improve the city’s infrastructure and some city officials think Measure P may be the best way to make that happen. If passed in November, the measure would put a 5% tax on anything that requires an admission in the city.

“And at a certain point, you need to make the investment and repair and replace,” said Ben Harvey, City Manager of Pacific Grove.

But not everyone is on board. Jody Hansen with the Monterey Peninsula Chamber of Commerce agrees the city needs funding, but feels this isn’t the way to go

“This has so many unintended consequences to so many local business and nonprofits,” said Hansen.

Non-profits like the Big Sur Marathon, or local businesses like the Lighthouse Cinema, where the owner tells KION he fears the tax may put him out of business. Which the Chamber of Commerce fears as well.

“A lot of times a sales tax measure will only have 1%, they’re looking at taking 5%, and to me that’s way over and above,” said Hansen.

However, PG’s City Manager describes the measure as a ‘passing tax’, where the additional revenue simply gets passed through the organization and into the city.

“So it shouldn’t be coming out of the organization, their bottom line, because it should be coming from someone who derived the benefit, the attendee,” said Harvey.

The city had looked at other options, including a bed tax on hotels and an increase in business taxes. But voters will decide on Measure P come November.