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Napa Proposition F: Hotel Tax for Affordable Housing

Creative Commons. By Oleg Alexandrov. Cropped and resized

Affordable housing is on the ballot everywhere this election, and wine country is no exception.

Measure F is on the Napa City ballot, and proposes increasing the hotel room tax from 12% to 13%. That means overnight hotel guests, who are generally tourists, would pay a little more. So let’s do the math... If you’re paying 200 dollars to pass out in a nice suite after a long day of wine tasting, Measure F would mean that you’d pay 26 dollars in tax instead of what you’d pay now: 24 dollars. The extra money would fund programs and services for affordable and workforce housing. All five cities in Napa County will be voting on their own version of this same measure.

Proponents of the measure say that this increase will generate around3 million dollars every year, that would go towards things like building and renovating affordable housing, and would also include construction of workforce housing closer to employment centers.

The Napa City Council has already approved it, so now residents will have to vote. Measure F would enact a special tax, which means it can only be approved if two thirds of voters say yes. Other people who say yes? The Napa Valley Democratic Party, mayor Jill Techel (Tek-UL), and community housing advocates. There’s no official opposition.

So, if you support a 1% increase in the Napa City hotel room tax, vote YES on Measure F. If you don’t want that increase in price for hotel guests, vote NO.

 

Ninna Gaensler-Debs is a reporter and editor for Crosscurrents. Since 2012, Ninna has worn a variety of hats at KALW - she was both a producer and event planner for Localore project Hear Here. Ninna also programmed and organized the Sights and Sounds live events - two in Bayview, and most recently, one in East Oakland.