Pasadena Sales Tax Rises to 11% Thursday as County’s Measure ER Takes Effect

Pasadena’s sales tax rate rises to 11% on Thursday, Oct. 1, when Los Angeles County’s voter-approved Measure ER takes effect. The rate had been 10.5%.

The half-cent increase applies to taxable retail sales throughout the county, in its cities and unincorporated areas alike. County officials estimate it will raise about $1 billion a year for health care and other services strained by federal cuts. Part of the money is reserved for the Pasadena Public Health Department, a share Mayor Victor Gordo has asked county supervisors to revisit.

Rates in South Pasadena, Sierra Madre, Arcadia and La Cañada Flintridge also rise from 10.5% to 11%. The countywide rate that applies in unincorporated areas rises from 9.75% to 10.25%.

Measure ER, known as the Essential Services Restoration Act, is a half-cent general sales tax that runs for five years, until Oct. 1, 2031. Its revenue goes into the county’s general fund, and the Board of Supervisors decides how it is spent.

The board adopted a spending plan for the money. The plan is subject to the county’s annual budget process. It directs 45% to a Department of Health Services program of free or reduced-cost care for uninsured, low-income residents at nonprofit clinics. Another 22% supports the county’s public hospitals and clinics, and 10% goes to the Department of Public Health. Smaller shares go to nonprofit safety-net hospitals, family planning providers, school-based health programs, Medi-Cal outreach, correctional health services and in-home supportive services.

One percent is reserved for the Pasadena Public Health Department and Long Beach’s Department of Health and Human Services. It is to be divided according to what each city spent on core public health services over the past five fiscal years. Pasadena and Long Beach run their own health departments, separate from the county’s. City staff estimated that the 1% share would total about $10 million a year.

In a July 20 letter to the Board of Supervisors, Gordo asked for a review of that 1% share. Together, the two cities generate about 6.2% of the tax’s revenue, according to city staff. Gordo wrote that the Pasadena health department provides vital services such as infectious disease control, food safety and immunizations despite significant funding cuts and workforce challenges.

The Pasadena Public Health Department has served the city since 1892. It began the fiscal year that started July 1 with about 43% fewer staff than at its 2024 peak, its director recently told the City Council’s Public Safety Committee. The cuts followed a two-year run of expiring grants. The city’s recommended budget for the fiscal year that began July 1 did not assume any Measure ER revenue.

Voters approved Measure ER on June 2, 50.64% to 49.36%. Supervisor Kathryn Barger was the only supervisor to vote against placing it on the ballot. After it passed, Barger said in a statement that she had opposed it because of the added burden on taxpayers, but that she respects “the will of the voters.”

A nine-member citizens’ oversight committee will review the tax’s receipts and spending, including an annual independent audit, and recommend how to allocate the money. It has no authority to decide spending priorities. Supervisors approved Barger’s appointment to the committee, Marlee Lauffer, on Sept. 15, her office said in a news release. The committee is to make recommendations before supervisors adopt a spending plan next spring for fiscal year 2027-28. An independent auditor’s report on the tax is also due to the board by March 31 each year.

The board placed the measure on the ballot after H.R. 1, the federal law signed July 4, 2025, changed eligibility and enrollment rules for Medi-Cal, California’s Medicaid program. The county departments most affected project revenue losses totaling $2.4 billion over three years, according to the supervisors’ motion.

Grocery food and prescription medicines are not subject to the tax.

Shoppers and businesses can find the rate for a specific address at https://www.cdtfa.ca.gov. The California Department of Tax and Fee Administration also takes questions at 1-800-400-7115.