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It would take voter approval to keep utility tax rates at 10%, and they've already shot that option down once.
But just in case you are looking for some harder evidence, we have discovered a website from an outfit called MuniServices. There they feature something rather useful called UUTInfo.org (click here). This service allows you to easily compare our utility tax rates with those of any other city in California.
Please note that there are two categories you should look at. One is the actual tax rates themselves, the other is the amount of categories taxed. As our premiere example, let's take a look at Sierra Madre:
CITY OF SIERRA MADRE UTILITIES SUBJECT TO TAX
Telephone (includes Wireless, Intrastate, Interstate and International)10%
CATV 10%
Electricity 10%
Gas 10%
Water 9%
Sanitation / Solid Waste 9%
You'll notice that such things as telephone services, cable TV, electricity and gas are all at a 10% UUT rate. Also note the number of categories covered. As you will soon discover if you mess around with the site a little, cities with 10% utility tax rates are very rare. As are those who tax sanitation and solid waste removal.
One municipality where the residents do pay 10% UUT rates is the City of Bell. Here is how MuniServices breaks that down for us.
CITY OF BELL UTILITIES SUBJECT TO TAX
Telephone (Includes Intrastate and Wireless) 10%
Electricity 10%
Gas 10%
Water 10%
You can see that while Bell does have four categories in the magic 10% range, the overall categories are fewer. Sanitation and solid waste removal are not taxed in Bell, nor are two of the four categories listed by Sierra Madre under "telephone."
So how do some of our neighboring cities stack up? Here is Arcadia.
CITY OF ARCADIA UTILITIES SUBJECT TO TAX
Telephone (Includes Intrastate, Interstate, International, Wireless) 5%
Electricity 7%
Gas 7%
Water 7%
Again, fewer categories, with none of those coming anywhere near to the utility tax rates of Sierra Madre. How about Pasadena?
CITY OF PASADENA UTILITIES SUBJECT TO TAX
Telecommunications (Includes Intrastate, Interstate, International and Wireless) 8.28%
Electricity 7.67%
Gas 7.9%
Video 9.4%
Water 7.67%
Pasadena has lower utility tax rates as well, with nothing at all about sanitation or solid waste. Let's try South Pasadena next.
CITY OF SOUTH PASADENA UTILITIES SUBJECT TO TAX
Telephone (Includes Intrastate and Wireless) 7.5%
Electricity 7.5%
Gas 7.5%
CATV 7.5%
Water 7.5%
Again, lower rates, fewer categories.
Just to see how the other half lives, here is San Marino.
CITY OF SAN MARINO UTILITIES SUBJECT TO TAX
Telephone (Includes Intrastate, Interstate, International and Wireless) 5%
Electricity 5%
Gas 5%
CATV 5%
Water 5%
So how about poor old bankrupt San Bernardino?
CITY OF SAN BERNARDINO UTILITIES SUBJECT TO TAX
Communication Services (Telecommunications) 7.75%
Communication Services (Video, including CATV and IP-TV) 7.75%
Electricity 7.75%
Gas 7.75%
I think you can see a pattern developing here.
You are free to explore the MuniServices site as much as you want. They'll let you. I spent some time looking for a City that exceeds Sierra Madre's double digit utility tax and category set up and couldn't find a single one. Bell coming the closest. Maybe you'll have more luck than I did?
Oh, and just for fun, try looking up Monrovia's UUT rates. You can't because they are not listed. And why is that? They have no utility taxes. Something that you might want to consider the next time you're looking for a Post Office box to send that cell phone bill.
Have fun.
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