When the Santa Barbara City Council unanimously voted to vote on a measure to raise the sales tax to half a cent on Nov. 5, giving city voters the opportunity to vote on a tax that could raise as much as $15.6 million annually, the bigger question was how the city would decide how to distribute those funds and what its top priorities would be.

During the June 11 council discussion, the order of the priority list was debated, a list that put “9-1-1 and public safety” at the top, followed by affordable housing — specifically funding for the city’s Local Housing Trust Fund — and homeless services. Some council members wanted to list affordable housing as the top priority to accommodate community input, but after much discussion, the council agreed to move forward with the language as it stood, as that particular language had already performed well on the vote.

On Tuesday, the city’s Finance Committee had an opportunity to comment on the ballot proposal before the item returns for council discussion. Finance Director Keith Martini went over the proposed list of priorities, which includes: maintaining the police emergency number 9-1-1; contributing to the city’s Local Housing Trust Fund, improving housing affordability and combating homelessness; keeping fire stations open; maintaining library services; and maintaining public areas and parks.

The list, DeMartini explained, is based on public input from more than two dozen meetings over the past nine months, and the order should not imply that one item is more important than another. The actual distribution of funds will come later, if voters approve the tax.

However, during the public hearing, several representatives of citizens’ initiatives argued that placing housing at the top of the list could potentially attract more voters to the measure.

“How you set those priorities will affect how voters choose to vote,” said Larry Severance, board president of CLUE (Clergy and Laity United For Economic and Social Justice). “And there is no more obvious problem in our community than the housing crisis – affordable housing and workforce housing – and homelessness.”

Rob Fredericks, executive director of the City of Santa Barbara’s Housing Authority, has been present at many public meetings where community priorities have been discussed. He also said the order of the list should reflect community input. “I would like to see a basic human right like housing put at the top of the priority list,” he said.

However, members of the Finance Committee expressed concerns about changing the language at this point. All three committee members agreed to approve the language as is, allowing the full Council to revisit the issue at a later date.