County Halts Request for Lobbyists to Lay Groundwork for Tax Hikes

County officials this week canceled a controversial callout for bids from lobbyists to help the county push changes to state law to pave the way for it to pull in more revenue.

Republican Supervisor Jim Desmond in recent days has blasted the proposal, first reported by the Union-Tribune, to hire a contractor to rally for legislative tweaks allowing the county to try to enact payroll taxes or increase charges on documents during real estate transfers.

The county posted a notice on its contracting site Wednesday that it was canceling the request for quotes. The callout was originally posted Dec. 18 and closed Dec. 22. It’s unclear how many would-be contractors responded to the request.

The request was the second of two bidding processes under the purview of the sustainable fiscal planning subcommittee made up of Democratic Supervisors Terra Lawson-Remer and Monica Montgomery Steppe.

County spokesperson Tammy Glenn said the county is still pursuing a contract with a yet-be-announced consultant to conduct polling and research on potential measures to raise taxes and other possible ways to increase county revenues.

The office of Lawson-Remer, who has publicly floated the real estate transfer tax, said this week that any county tax increase proposal would require voter approval – and that Lawson-Remer is now more focused on other tactics to address the projected $300 million annual hit to the county’s budget due to federal cuts.

“What we’re moving forward on is our work to protect taxpayers and essential services as we move into a very difficult budget year due to significant federal cuts that are looming and our focus is on finding savings first before making cuts or asking families to pay more,” Lawson-Remer’s office said in a statement.

The first of those proposals, Lawson-Remer’s office said, is a pitch before the board next Tuesday to try to reduce construction and maintenance costs for county fire facilities.

Speaking of proposed tax hikes: Signature gatherers will hit the streets Monday to collect the more than 102,000 signatures needed to get a proposed countywide half-cent sales tax measure on the ballot. The proposed tax hike is being pushed by a coalition of labor unions and advocacy groups.

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