A consultant for the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) District in San Francisco has come up with a startling finding: sales tax receipts, its main source of revenue, will stay flat for the next three decades. The BART Board of Directors expected short term revenue projections would be pessimistic due to the current recession/depression but didn't expect a long-term pessimistic forecast. As the Contra Costa Times reports ("BART to San Jose delayed" - Feb. 3): Board
members used words like "shocked" and "astonished" at the report by
consultant Bob Peskin, who analyzed sales tax projections through 2036.
Once inflation is factored out, his sales tax projections are
essentially a flat line. "I'm really the bearer of not very good
news," Peskin said. "It's pretty terrible news "... and in real terms
it means sales tax revenues will never be greater than they are right
now. That's the most likely outcome, and that is a harsh reality."
The City of Pasadena has recently rushed to get a new Open Space Element to its General Plan updated. But the Business and Development Element of the City's General Plan remains outdated since 1987. Is it any wonder that business is in decline?
Comments