I am sad that Mervyn's filed bankruptcy. I shopped there at least a couple times per month. First Penney's gone, now Mervyn's. Yes, we have Kohl's and they probably will be busier. But will Mervyn's closing have an effect on our pitiful local sales tax base? I cringe at the thought of that big store sitting empty, just like Couches Etc.

I am sad too that so many jobs will be lost and hopefully the store won't be left empty. However, I am not at all surprised at this news. Mervyn's has gone down hill for the past few years. Their customer service was non-existant and it seemed like everytime I asked someone for help they didn't even speak English. It was disappointing as Mervyn's used to be the nicest place to shop in town.

Now we are also losing Shoe Pavilion.

Link

And the moral of the story is: even if it is a large chain it is by no means guaranteed to stay in business. Surely putting all of our "eggs" into the sales tax from retail basket is not the greatest idea.
Diversify diversify people. Show some creative vision there city council, it's your job to try harder. We deserve better.

Thinking outside the box with say a Minor League baseball stadium??

I realize that this wouldn't be the cure-all, but this coupled with the "proposed" East Washington Place would have undoubtedly added a positive shot in Petaluma's commercial arm.

I constantly find myself driving by the fairgrounds/old Kenilworth site and think "what if"...and yes, I would sacrifice the extra 5-15 minutes of drive time to get across town.

O-pen, o-pen, o-pen???

Closed, closed, closed.

They were pretty good TV ads.....

Maybe Penney's will be coming back to Petaluma. They have been doing an advertising blitz with their flyers in the Argus every week. TJMaxx would probably do well in that location. I hope the shopping center owners don't let it sit empty for long. Wonder if they would be open to suggestions.....?

Why not put an electronics/computer store in the Mervyn's location. Then the dimwits at Regency can give the old kennilworth site back to the city so we can build up the entire site with athletic fields.

Hey, I can dream, can't I?

There is no Petaluma sales tax (thankfully). There is only a Sonoma County sales tax here. All sales taxes collected in Petaluma go to Sonoma County.

The only cities in Sonoma county which have sales tax are Santa Rosa and .... (wait for it).... Sebastopol! Why there, nobody can figure...

Anyway, there is Petaluma city Business Tax, which is a once-per year fee that is a sliding scale based on total revenue - something like .02% (point zero two per-cent), but there is no specific sales tax for Petaluma.

There are some other taxes like the downtown "Business Improvement District" that is based on the # of employees, but it's pretty small, $50-150 per year or so for most business I guess, and it's confined to the downtown area. As far as I know those funds go to pay for the trash cans and park benches around the area - as well as the "administrator" salaries of course..

A percentage of the sales tax paid in Petaluma does indeed stay in Petaluma and that is why local retail is so important. 25/30% of our General Fund budget is derived from sales tax.

That was illuminating. I would have expected half or more of my sales tax dollars to stay at home. What is the actual percentage?

Does anyone know how are our property taxes divvied up between the County and the City?

quote:

Originally posted by PTownFan:
That was illuminating. I would have expected half or more of my sales tax dollars to stay at home. What is the actual percentage?

Does anyone know how are our property taxes divvied up between the County and the City?

I think that Petaluma gets 10% of property taxes collected here.

quote:

Originally posted by David:
A percentage of the sales tax paid in Petaluma does indeed stay in Petaluma and that is why local retail is so important. 25/30% of our General Fund budget is derived from sales tax.

So what IS that percentage of SALES tax rev. that Ptown keeps instead of kicking it ALL over to the county, David?

oh but we have kohls! yay! and they also built a bunch of other buildings overthere off the 101...all built up on a flood plane. so no merv's in favor of more flooding of 101, north mcdowell, and stoney point. badbadbad. city officials are terrible. next time vote for yourself, and make a real difference.

If they subdivide Mervyn's I think that Washington Square could use a drugstore (remember Bill's?) like Walgreen's. They usually have a drive-through pharmacy, and they have a great selection of merchandise. The other half could be a restaurant or a smaller dept. store or specialty store.