The City Council has voted to put a measure on the November ballot asking voters to approve a quarter-cent sales tax increase.

 

Right now, Placerville’s sale tax rate is 8.5%. Mayor Pierre Rivas says increasing it would help pay off a new $45 million waste water treatment facility.

 

“If we can get approval of the ballot measure to increase the sales tax, this will be a way of paying for that debt service. And that is in opposed to what we’re doing now which is a quite substantial increase in our water and sewer rates which has been affecting a lot of the ratepayers.”

 

Rivas says the typical water customer has seen their bi-monthly bill go from $100 to $300.

 

Placerville was required by the state to clean up water discharged into Hangtown Creek and build a new waste water treatment facility...which opened last year.