SACRAMENTO (CBS13) – The Sacramento City Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to put a half-cent sales tax increase on the November ballot.

It’s not secret the city is cash-strapped. About a quarter of city staff has been laid off in recent years and city leaders are staring at another multi-million dollar budget deficit.

The half cent sales tax will need a two-thirds majority to pass. If it’s approved, it would bring in millions to the city’s general fund, about $28 million annually. It would also raise the city’s sales tax rate to 8.25 percent, the highest for any city in the region.

“Well, I think it’s the right course of action,” Councilman Kevin McCarthy. “People have said over and over they’re tired of the cuts and it’s not OK just to maintain. We want to go back to restoring our cut services – public safety, parks, fire.”

Councilwoman Angelique Ashby expressed reservations about the tax.

“To me, it doesn’t feel like the right time,” she said. “However, that’s not the question tonight. The question is do we give voters the opportunity to weight in, and on that I say yes.”