Twentynine Palms City Council faces reality of a 1% sales tax increase
Last night, the Twentynine Palms City Council meeting began with Mayor Daniel Mintz issuing a brief statement regarding the closed session that began at 5:30 p.m.:
“That the city not take formal action to pursue collection of the amount of $31,982.08 due to the city by Morongo Arch related to the former agreement related to the city’s Elm Avenue property.”
Public Arts and Advisory Committee (PAAC) Vice Chair Sara Lyons belatedly presented the 2025 Arts Advocate of the Year award to former PAAC Chair Anna Stump, calling her a “pillar of our creative community.”
City Manager Kevin Cole presented on behalf of AB1821, a bill that would address the logistic and financial challenges that come with increasing public records requests. One proposed change would extend the turnaround time from 10 days to 10 business days. The League of California Cities is asking council for a letter of support and council agreed.
Council then discussed results of the outreach campaign to residents around a proposed 1% sales tax increase. With flat revenues, rising costs, and aging facilities, the city is looking to expand its’ General Fund.
Polls and questionnaires were sent to 5,000 registered voter households and 682 responses were received. People specifically expressed concerns around law enforcement, roads and the animal shelter not getting proper funding.
City Manager Kevin Cole noted that the conversation about a ballot measure to increase the sales tax had begun “two city managers ago” with Frank Luckino.
Mayor Daniel Mintz noted that the city has never made a move to increase the sales tax but the time had come. “Well, obviously, the tourists will be paying for part of this tax. And when Yucca Valley passed theirs, they made it very clear that tourists and people from Twentynine Palms will be paying a lot of that tax because a lot of people shop there. So we’re kinda keeping up with the neighbors a little bit with this because everything we buy from Yucca Valley has the 1% included in that. We’ve held out as long as we could and I hope the citizens research it and make a good decision.”
Cole noted that the 1% increase could lead to an estimated $2M in additional funds annually. The deadline to submit for a ballot measure is August 7th and the issue will be on the June 23rd council agenda. For more info, residents can access a Fact Sheet on the city’s website.
