For decades the city of Ceres has limited a household to just two yard or garage sales each year. But a Ceres couple’s 2023 request to allow more sales in residential areas prompted the Ceres City Council on Monday to increase the cap to three per year.
The council also cleaned up complicated and confusing language in the Municipal Code that indicated a weekend sale running Friday, Saturday and Sunday counted as three sales. The changes approved on Monday allow a household to operate three three-day sales during a calendar.
“A three-day sale three times a year would be good for the city,” said Ceres resident Shirley Rogers. “That would help the people here who pay bills and things that they need to do. People complain about too many yard sales. It’s very easy. If they don’t have a permit, shut ’em down. If they have too many, fine them. If you’re going to have a law, enforce it or don’t have a law.”
Before the council made the unanimous vote to increase the yard sales in Ceres, Community Development Director Lea Simvoulakis suggested the council dropping the idea of having a citywide yard/garage sale.
But it became apparent that the council wants to set up a special Community Yard Sale event once per year. Councilwoman Rosalinda Vierra liked the idea of a community-wide sale similar to the April 20 Modesto GarageFest that included over 250 households.
Vice Mayor Bret Silveira said he wants the Ceres event crafted to where no permits or permit fees are required with the city posting addresses on its website indicating where sales would take place that single day.
City Attorney Nubia Goldstein said a special sale day would not have to be part of the city code and could be set up as a special event such as the balloon festival.
Most cities in Stanislaus County allow only two sales a year, with Newman, Oakdale and Patterson being the only cities that allow three.
Simvoulakis said that garage sale restrictions are designed to prevent:
• The expansion of commercial activity in noncommercial zones;
• Unfair competition with licensed revenue-producing commercial and business enterprises;
• The evasion of business license fees.
She added that nine sale days per year is sufficient for residents to be able to sell, trade, bargain, exchange, or otherwise dispose of unwanted or surplus household items. Simvoulakis said yard sales cannot be used as a cover for wholesaling items.
The city is limiting three sales in the calendar year rather than on a rolling 12-month system to reduce the burden of city staff having to consider the year period differently for everyone. The city is also dismissing the requirement that sales must be spaced four months apart, giving residents more flexibility in holding sales.
Remaining the same is the$5 fee the city charges for a yard/garage sale permit. Those without a permit risk having their sale shut down by code enforcement officers who roam the city looking for violations.
Simvoulakis did not suggest raising the cost of the permit fee, but did note that $5 does not “cover the staff time needed to issue the permit and track the number of permits issued in a year.” She did suggest charging $5 for a community-wide garage sale day, something the council seemed opposed to.
Further complicating the garage sale policy is state law that requires a California seller’s permit whenever a person holds three or more sales within a 12-month period – and file sales and use tax returns and pay sales and use tax due.
The website for the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration states that if a person sells items at a location for less than 90 days, they are considered a “temporary seller” and required to obtain a temporary seller’s permit for free. Seller’s permits are generally not required unless three sales are held in a 12-month period.
The city was told by the state that each day of a garage sale is considered a sale, so a two-day garage sale remains exempt from California sales tax. Under state law, a resident having at least three sale days per year triggers the requirement to get a seller’s permit or temporary seller’s permit and pay sales taxes on money collected. That law tends to be scoffed at by residents.
The city cannot pre-empt the state’s charge to collect taxes but also does not have to ensure that the seller complies with filing income taxes.
When Simvoulakis surveyed other cities, she said it became apparent that many crafted their yard sales permit policies ignorant of the state law. She concluded that: “It is ultimately the taxpayer who needs to be aware of their obligations to the state.”
