Idea of South Lake Tahoe becoming a charter city tabled, for now

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - The possibility of a ballot measure to move the City of South Lake Tahoe from a general law city to a charter city has been taken off the table for the time being.

Two members of the City Council, Mayor Cody Bass and Councilmember Scott Robbins, were appointed to a subcommittee to explore a possible ballot measure. Bass has long been a proponent of the charter city idea as a way to create more revenue by imposing a transfer tax on real estate transactions, something a general law city cannot.

"The Charter Subcommittee met before our last city council meeting, we did not have an agreed-upon recommendation to bring to the council," said Bass. "It was decided by the committee to not poll the community or move forward at this time with a recommendation of a charter to the council."

A city charter is a voter-approved document that serves as a “local constitution.” Any changes or repeal of a charter must be approved by the voters. A general law city's power comes from statutes and the California Constitution, so it follows all laws of the state.

When the City of South Lake Tahoe was incorporated in 1965, it was a general law city. In California, 108 of the state's 478 cities have charters.

City Council was going to spend money and do public outreach and then polling to test the waters of the idea with voters. The charter city idea was tabled before any outreach was done. Bass said there was a lot of misinformation about the idea on the street. The timeline was tight to make it onto the ballot, and polling would have gone out before outreach was completed, Bass said.

"It’s my opinion that at some point in the future we should bring this to the voters but now is not the time with so many potential local ballot questions," added Bass.