Smoking getting more pricey
By: Joshua Sabatini
Examiner Staff Writer
July 7, 2009
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| Cleaning costs: Beginning in October, smokers will pay a fee to help the city recoup the cost of cleaning up discarded butts. (Examiner file photo) |
SAN FRANCISCO — That pack of cigarettes is going to cost another 20 cents.
The new fee for every cigarette purchase in The City, proposed by Mayor Gavin Newsom, was unanimously embraced Tuesday by the Board of Supervisors as a way to help The City out of one of its largest deficits in history.
Money generated by the fee, which will be tacked on to the purchase price that can already be as high as $7 in The City, will go to offset the cost to pick up cigarette butts cast illegally into streets and gutters as litter. The added cost will go into effect Oct. 1.
Newsom had initially proposed a 33 cent fee, but reduced it to 20 cents after a final study found the cost to pick up the butts was lower than expected.
The study, conducted by Health Economics Consulting Group, found the city’ spends $7.5 million cost cleaning up the illegally discarded butts, not the $10.7 million as previously thought.
“We’re very pleased that the supervisors embraced this bill, which will help keep San Francisco free of cigarette litter,” said Newsom spokesman Nathan Ballard.
The fee could increase each fiscal year based on the recommendation of the city controller, who will adjust the fee to ensure it covers The City’s cost of cleaning up the butts.
Under state law, The City cannot tax cigarettes, but it can charge the fee to recoup costs form cleanup of the trash.
The fee is one more for smokers to pay on top of the taxes, including an 87 cent state tax. A federal tax on cigarettes increased by 62 cents April 1, bringing the total to $1.01.
It is estimated that cigarette sales this year will total $125.8 million, up from $118 million in 2002. About 30.6 million packs of cigarettes were sold in San Francisco in 2008, according to the study.
IN OTHER ACTION
- Supervisor David Campos introduced legislation intended to crack down on mortgage fraud by requiring loan modification consultants to collect fees only after helping the homeowner obtain favorable changes. The bill was co-sponsored by Supervisor Sophie Maxwell and supported by District Attorney Kamala Harris and Assessor-Recorder Phil Ting.
- In an 11-0 vote, the exterior of shuttered Metro Theatre on Union Street was landmarked, paving the way for the building to reopen as a high-end gym and retail shops.
- Supervisor Chris Daly requested the City Attorney draft legislation that would require the mayor to submit a proposed city budget to the Board of Supervisors on May 1 instead of June 1, which would give the board more time make changes.
jsabatini@sfexaminer.com
