Petaluma should pursue sales tax to fix streets

Results of a citywide poll conducted in March on a possible ballot measure to increase the local sales tax rate confirmed what many people already believed to be true: The biggest concern for Petaluma voters is the deplorable condition of city streets.

The longstanding problem ranked well above all other issues raised in the survey. A full 63 percent of respondents said that potholes and street repair is an extremely serious or very serious problem, followed by traffic congestion at 50 percent. Further down on the list was crime at 21 percent and 911 response times, at 19 percent.

Another question that pollsters asked residents was if they feel that Petaluma is a safe place to live. An overwhelming majority - 96 percent - agreed that it is a safe city.

The poll, by the firm Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin, Metz & Associates, provides an early look at whether city officials will try again to pass a sales tax measure, and what that effort might look like. The consultants recommend moving forward with a general sales tax measure to fund city services. But that strategy has failed in the past as it gives voters no guarantee of where the revenue will be spent.

Instead, a united city council should campaign for a specific sales tax with a spending plan dedicated to fixing the streets, the city’s number one problem.

The city in 2014 failed to pass Measure Q, a one-cent general sales tax that technically could have been spent on any city priority, but was billed as a solution to the streets.

Despite overwhelming support for a tax measure to fix the streets that year, city officials listed on the ballot a number of priorities including flood protection, storm drainage, vehicle replacement, restoring public safety positions and public facilities improvements. It was defeated 56 percent to 43 percent.

The city’s consultants seem to support the city taking the same approach as Measure Q and a failed countywide general sales tax measure in 2015. The poll’s conclusions state that a one-cent general sales tax for roads, public safety and other priorities “is definitely viable for a November 2016 election and recommended for future planning.” A general sales tax requires a simple majority to pass.

But a half-cent sales tax dedicated for street repair, requiring two-thirds voter approval, also stands a good chance of passing, with a strong campaign.

We hope that the Petaluma City Council has learned from failed attempts at past sales tax measures and unites behind a specific tax for street repairs - by far the top community priority. Of course poll respondents, if prompted, are going to say that money should be spent to improve emergency response times. But residents also feel that the city is already safe.

Petaluma has some of the worst streets in the Bay Area. No funding source currently exists to climb out from this street repair deficit until Sacramento figures out a solution to the problem of declining gas tax revenues, which has traditionally paid for streets.

It’s time for Petaluma voters to take matters into our own hands and pass a dedicated funding source for street repairs. The next step is a public engagement process in which residents will be able to comment on a potential tax measure. During that process, tell the city to pursue a half-cent sales tax that is dedicated to fixing the streets.