County's 23 Ballot Measures Span Wide Range Of Issues

SONOMA COUNTY, CA – In addition to 17 state measures, there are 23 local measures on the Nov. 8 Sonoma County ballot.

There are school bond measures in six school districts and parcel tax measures in two other school districts.

The bond measures to finance the familiar list of needed repairs, retentions of programs and staff, additions to facilities and modernization of existing structures range from $4 million in the Waugh Elementary School
District in the Petaluma and Penngrove area to $120 million in the Sonoma Valley Unified School District. The bond measures need a 55 percent majority to pass.

The $96 parcel tax measure for 12 years in the Rincon Valley Union School District and the $75 annual parcel tax for nine years Wilmar Union School District in Petaluma need the approval of two-thirds of the voters.

There are measures to increase the Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT) from 9 percent to 12 percent in lodging facilities in unincorporated areas of Sonoma County and from 12 percent to a maximum of 14 percent on hotels in Healdsburg.

The Sonoma County TOT measure is intended to offset the impact of tourists on roads, emergency response and workforce housing, but as a general tax, it can be used for general government purposes. It requires a majority approval.

The Healdsburg TOT's estimated $530,123 annual revenue is restricted to affordable housing programs and services. The specific purpose of the tax requires the measure to receive two-thirds approval.

A companion measure in Healdsburg, Measure R, amends the existing Growth Management Ordinance to increase affordable housing requirements on new developments from 15 to 30 percent and removes existing restrictions on the number of new residential units allowed each year. It requires majority approval.

There are sales tax measures on the ballot in Santa Rosa and Sonoma, Sonoma County and in Cloverdale.

Santa Rosa wants to extend an existing quarter-cent sales tax for eight years for city services.

Cloverdale is proposing a revenue tax up to 10 percent on all cannabis related businesses in the county's northernmost city to pay for police, parks, libraries and senior and youth programs.

The Sonoma County Regional Library system is proposing a one-eighth of a percent sales tax for 10 years to maintain, restore or enhance its programs and services. It requires two-thirds approval. A previous tax measure for libraries recently lost by a slim margin.

Sonoma County Regional Parks is asking voters to approve a half-cent sales tax for 10 years to expand, maintain and restore county parks and facilities and increase walking, biking and hiking trails in the
unincorporated area. It requires two-thirds approval.

Quality of life issues that require majority approval also are on the ballot.

Healdsburg voters will decide as they have in the past, on a moratorium on water fluoridation until safety issues are studied further.

Voters approved adding fluoride to the water in 1952. Sonoma voters will consider a ban on gas leaf blowers, but Measure S will allow electric and battery-power blowers. Sonoma voters also will vote on a stricter ordinance prohibiting smoking in public places.

Sonoma County voters will also consider a ban on the propagation, cultivation raising, or growing of genetically engineered organisms in the unincorporated area. It requires majority approval. A previous GEO measure in the county failed.

Voters will also weigh in on an anti-sprawl measure that requires majority voter approval of changes to the Sonoma County General Plan that increases the density and intensity of development within Community
Separators between its cities until Dec. 31, 2038.

Cotati voters will decide on a measure that extends the current Urban Growth Boundary an additional 30 years.

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