San Gabriel : Tax Exemption Denied

The City Council has denied a nonprofit group’s request to be exempted from the city’s 6% utility tax.

“If we granted you (an exemption),” Vice Mayor Sabino M. Cici told Juanita Stanley, executive director of California Literacy, “we’d probably have at the next meeting a free-flow of people” from other nonprofit groups.

To lift the tax on California Literacy, which teaches adults to read, write and speak English, the council would have to grant the same exemption to all nonprofit groups in the city, according to a report from Finance Director Tracey L. Butler. A widespread exemption would cut into sorely needed revenues, Butler said.

Stanley argued that the $300 to $400 in utility taxes the group has paid in the past five months has been a financial burden. The organization has been forced to lay off two of its eight full-time employees at its Mission Drive office in the past 18 months. Councilman Harry L. Baldwin said the council will re-examine the utility tax next spring to see if it can be reduced for everyone.