Delay Approved For Road Tax Ballot Measure & Long-Term Road Report

The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday voted to postpone putting a quarter-cent sales tax measure on the March 2015 ballot until June 2015 and reducing the term of the tax from 20 to five years.

The 20-year, quarter-cent sales tax ordinance was passed in August, and its revenue, estimated at $20 million annually, was to be available for all government purposes.

The supervisors also passed a separate ordinance in August to place on the March 2015 ballot an advisory measure directing how the money should be spent.

Since then, county staff received public input suggesting the public’s trust in the government to use funds wisely is low, County Administrator Veronica Ferguson said in a staff report.

She suggested reducing the term of the tax from 20 to five years, postponing the ballot measure until June 2015 and rescinding the advisory measure as a means to gain public trust that the money will be used for road repair and maintenance.

Sixty-one percent of the pavement in the county’s 1,370-mile road network was deemed to be in poor or very poor condition, according to an 18-month survey commissioned by the county.

County officials say without a minimal investment of $20 million a year, the entire road network will continue to decline causing long-term economic costs.

The shorter five-year term for the tax will limit the exposure of spending the tax for undesired uses, Ferguson said. Postponing the tax ballot measure by three months will allow time to inform the public about the need for the tax and the current plans for its use and accountability, according to Ferguson.

“Finally, there appears to be a widespread belief that an advisory measure’s not an effective way of ensuring wise uses but actually reduces public trust in any accompanying ballot measures,” Ferguson said.

The general, countywide tax measure will need majority approval to pass. The county’s long-term road plan that was adopted today calls for an initial focus on 700 miles of the county’s 1,370 miles of paved roads over the next 10 years.

The county has improved 150 miles of road in the past three years. The county will share the tax revenue with its eight cities and the Town of Windsor based on population and the number of miles of road in the jurisdictions.

The county anticipates receiving $8.7 million and also plans to add another $1 million dedicated to a “Worst First” repair and maintenance program on the significantly deteriorated segments of road.

Ten percent of the county’s share will be spent to enhance transit services.

The board voted 5-0 to approve the long-term road plan and tweak the proposed tax measure. Supervisors Efren Carrillo and Susan Gorin said they believed voters who live in areas with the worst roads will have to be convinced their roads will be fixed or they won’t approve the tax measure.

The Sonoma County Transportation Agency will oversee the tax revenue spending.

--Bay City News

--Image via Shutterstock