Santa Ana Voters to Decide on Keeping Sales Tax Increase Indefinitely
Santa Ana voters will decide in November if they want to keep a 1.5% sales tax increase indefinitely after city officials had to make millions of dollars in cuts to balance their budget this summer.
Elected leaders publicly said Tuesday it will be up to voters to decide if they want to continue to enjoy services and programs like graffiti removal, fixing parks and keeping emergency response times at the same level by weighing in on the ballot measure.
Mayor Valerie Amezcua said if the measure isn’t added on the ballot and approved by voters, future city councils will have to have hard discussions on what to cut to stay afloat.
“The conversation will be then where do we cut and who do we cut. So when you call 911 it may take 10 minutes, when you call fire it may take 15 minutes, when you call about that pothole it may take five days, six days, 10 days, and again, on the flip side, maybe we will never be there,” Amezcua said at Tuesday’s city council meeting.
https://voiceofoc.org/2026/07/santa-ana-voters-to-decide-on-keeping-sales-tax-increase-indefinitely/