Support for a well-crafted sales tax measure dedicated for transportation

We expect politicians to generally learn from their mistakes. Specifically, we hope Petaluma’s leaders learned from last year’s failed sales tax ballot proposal, Measure Q, and will be more successful next time around.

The next time around will likely be the November 2016 ballot. While still more than a year away, city council members are already talking about placing a sales tax measure on the ballot that would raise enough funds to finally fix the city’s streets and build the Rainier connector. It’s a conversation that will no doubt dominate the local political discourse in the next 14 months.

Major goals of Measure Q were to provide a local funding source to fix Petaluma’s crumbling streets and provide traffic relief. Since its defeat in 2014 by a 56 to 43 margin, the asphalt has only gotten worse and traffic has increased. As the problems persist, leaders have at least acknowledged that local action is needed to fix the city’s transportation infrastructure.

A postmortem of Measure Q reveals that, because of compromises to the ballot language, it ended up not being what voters wanted. Measure Q was a one-cent sales tax increase with no end date or dedicated spending plan. Consequentially, it did not even have the support of the full seven-member City Council.

In short, Measure Q was too much of a reach for voters to support. It was too much money to fund too many priorities for too long of a time.

This time around, the proposal being discussed already shows that leaders have considered the polling done after Measure Q. The early talk is of a three-quarter-cent sales tax increase for 20 years with a dedicated spending plan. While that proposal is worlds better than Measure Q, the devil will be in the details, namely, what gets included in the spending plan.

We would support the plan if it is limited to transportation projects, including street repair, traffic relief and building the Rainier extension.

To be sure, the city has other needs, such as rehabilitating its fire stations, buying new police vehicles and increasing public safety staffing. Those priorities should be paid for by the general fund. This proposed measure should only address transportation funding.

The polling done before and after Measure Q found that fixing streets and providing traffic relief continue to be the top priorities for Petaluma voters. A three-quarter-cent sales tax increase would generate $20 million for the long-delayed Rainier extension, accelerating construction of a badly needed crosstown connector. At least another $80 million would be generated to finally tackle fixing the city’s streets, ranked among the worst in the Bay Area.

Another reason for limiting the tax measure to transportation funding has to do with a little-discussed piece of legislation that will likely garner much more attention next year. The state legislature is close to placing a constitutional amendment on the November 2016 ballot that would change the threshold needed to pass local transportation tax measures.

Currently, tax increases for dedicated purposes must get two-thirds voter approval to pass. Because of this high bar, local governments have recently tried to pass general tax measures - which require simple majorities - accompanied by promises to spend the money on named priorities. But voters are clearly mistrustful of politicians, as evidenced in the defeat of Measure Q and Measure A, the countywide general sales tax that failed in June. They want a dedicated spending plan.

The constitutional amendment would lower the threshold to 55 percent voter approval, but only for transportation tax measures. Coincidentally, the amendment, if approved, would apply to transportation sales tax measures on the same ballot. Petaluma’s sales tax measure will likely be on that same ballot, and could pass with less than two-thirds approval, provided the revenue is earmarked for transportation.

At 8.25 percent, Petaluma has among the lowest sales tax rates in Sonoma County. By comparison, Healdsburg and Santa Rosa are at 8.75 percent, Sebastopol is at 9 percent and Cotati’s sales tax is 9.25 percent. As revenue from gas tax, which normally pays for street repairs, continues to dwindle, it’s clear we need a new, local source of funding for transportation infrastructure.

Finally, it would be a huge help to have the full City Council backing this effort. Voters look to their elected officials when deciding on measures such as these. A council that is united and out in front driving this measure will greatly increase its chance of success. We encourage the council to work hard to reach a consensus on ballot language for a dedicated transportation measure, and give voters an opportunity to finally fix some of the city’s most pressing problems.