Letter: Republican women host speaker on Charter City vs. General Law City

The Republican Women, South Lake Tahoe hosted its October 12 luncheon meeting featuring guest speaker, David Jinkens, MPA, good government advocate, and retired South Lake Tahoe city manager.

Mr. Jinkens was asked to speak about the City of South Lake Tahoe’s exploration to become a “Charter City.” With over 35 years as a city manager in various cities, Mr. Jinkens outlined the differences between the city’s existing form of government (a General Law city) and what has been discussed as reasons for forming a Charter City. There are 482 cities in California with 361 being general law cities and 121 being charter cities. San Francisco is the only City and County in California and not a good model for structure or governance.

Mr. Jinkens went on to discuss the following:

The laws governing what general law cities can do are very specific. Charter cities can have much more power over their residents and businesses by both what is placed in the charter and what latent powers it has to levy more taxes, have a full-time and paid city council, be able to fine residents and businesses more for code violations, govern how and when local elections are held, and award contracts without following the lowest responsible bid outlined in State law for general law cities (to name a few). Unlike general law cities that have clear powers and limitations imposed on them, charter cities' powers are often challenged and decided by the courts, not a great way to govern.

The stated purpose of creating a ballot measure for South Lake Tahoe to become a charter city is to approve a property transfer tax for all sales of property in the city that would go to the general fund. A property transfer tax could be up to $4 per $1,000 in sales price – this could be a substantial tax on the sale of a property. Other seldom stated reasons to create a charter city have been mentioned (i.e. create a full-time and paid city council and increase fines for certain code violations that are limited under State law for a general law city).

City government-elected leaders cannot do everything for everyone. There is not an unlimited supply of city monies. City leaders need to focus on the most important issues, set priority for spending existing city dollars, hire and retain competent staff (and we generally have good staff, especially the city manager and director of finance), and not always push raising taxes, fees, and charges on an already overly taxed community with high inflation, rising consumer prices, etc. Good leadership demands elected officials be accountable to the voters and those invested here and explore all non-tax increase options to raise revenues. Good leadership demands a positive economic growth model that is business-friendly to increase city revenues.

Proposing a charter city for South Lake Tahoe for the stated purpose of imposing a transfer tax on all sales of property is not justification for approving one. He said that we can do better than that as he has pointed out to city officials in the recent past.

The Republican Women, South Lake Tahoe meets most months on the second Thursday from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. For more information, please email us at solaketahoerepublicanwomen2023@gmail.com

- Republican Women, South Lake Tahoe