This is the third article in a four-part series on local measures on the November ballot. For the first article on Measure A, the Lucerne Elementary School District bond, and Measure B, which would raise South Lake County Fire Protection District's appropriations limit, see www.bit.ly/2dL1ycX . For the second article on Measure C, the cannabis cultivation tax, and Measure Q, the Yuba and Woodland Community College bond reauthorization, visit www.bit.ly/2ekJHuY .
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – In Lake County, there are a total of nine local ballot measures that voters in various parts of the will vote on in November.
Of those nine measures, three will be voted on by residents of the city of Clearlake.
This year, Clearlake voters will decide on Measure V, a one-cent sales tax to improve and maintain the city's roads and streets; and measures W and X, which ask voters to approve changing the city clerk and treasurer posts, respectively, from elected to appointed positions.
Measure V: Focusing on the roads
The Clearlake City Council decided this year to go before voters once more to ask for support for a one-cent road tax to address the poor conditions of the city's roads and streets.
Measure V would raise an estimated $1.6 million annually to maintain and improve the 112 miles of city roads, of which 63 miles are paved, and the reported $15.2 million in deferred maintenance costs, according to city officials.
In 2008 and 2015, Nichols Consulting Engineers conducted pavement management studies for the city, and reported that the city's pavement condition index rating of 38 points – out of a possible 100 points – was well below an “F” grade and the lowest result for any city the company had evaluated.
Because of Measure P, a half-cent sales tax passed in 1996 to aid police services, the city must pass Measure V by a supermajority of 66.7 percent. Such a percentage would make it a specific tax that would not go into the general fund.
Otherwise, under the requirements of Measure P – which stipulates that 63.5 percent of the general fund must go to public safety maintenance – the increase in general fund revenue would require more money to be channeled to police operations and away from road repair.
Measure V funding would be collected and administered by the State Board of Equalization, its usage audited by the state, and would have an oversight committee to annually review expenditures and make recommendations to the Clearlake City Council.
After 20 years, Measure V would sunset, giving voters a chance to decide if they wanted to continue it or not.
Due to legal requirements, city staff and council members cannot use city time or their titles while in the process of advocating for the measure.
Bruno Sabatier, a Clearlake City Council member, separately chairs the Citizens for Measure V Committee, and it was in that role that he spoke to Lake County News about the measure.
Sabatier has been making presentations to local clubs and organizations – Rotary, the senior center, firefighter and police unions, and the Lake County Democratic Club – to explain the measure and its importance to the city. He said the Democrats have endorsed the measure.
He said he focuses on three major points: Public safety, economics and environment – all of which are connected to the condition of the city's roads.
Regarding the first point, Sabatier said public safety – fire and police – will be able to reach those in need of their help more quickly and safely due to better road conditions. In some areas of the city, road conditions hamper police and fire arrival altogether.
Additionally, Sabatier said better roads will create safer conditions for pedestrians and cyclists, who won't have to worry about getting hit by drivers swerving to avoid potholes.
As for economics, Sabatier said good road conditions will mean city residents won't have to pay to repair or replace their cars as often. Local government also will save money on repairing vehicles. And, he added, improved road conditions are likely to make visitors feel more welcome.
Then there is the environment. Sabatier said Measure V funding would help rebuild the city's storm drainage system. That would result in less dust and soil going into Clear Lake, reducing the nutrient loading that's blamed for many of the lake's problems such as weeds and blue-green algae. He said it's one part of helping to solve the lake's problems.
Measure V is the latest – and most road-focused – sales tax effort the city has undertaken to meet its critical funding shortage.
Over the past several years, the city has made three previous attempts at sales tax measures, all of which required the supermajority to pass and subsequently failed, some missing the required two-thirds percentage by mere percentage point, as Lake County News has reported.
Sabatier said those efforts followed a poll of city residents several years ago that had indicated support for a road-focused sales tax.
However, Sabatier said the city didn't offer such a measure. Instead, past proposed sales taxes that went before voters were a mix of roads and other needs.
They included:
– Measure G, November 2012: One cent, estimated $1.4 million annual revenue, 75 percent to roads, 25 percent to code enforcement services. Election results: Yes, 61.7 percent; no, 38.3 percent.
– Measure H, November 2013: One cent, estimated $1.4 million annual revenue, 75 percent to roads, 25 percent to code enforcement services. Election results: yes, 60.5 percent; no, 39.5 percent.
– Measure R, November 2014: Half cent, estimated to generate $760,000 annually for citywide cleanup and improvement, 10 year-sunset clause. Election results: yes, 53.4 percent; no, 46.6 percent.
The election results showed that measures with road maintenance and improvement came the closest to passage, while Measure R, which had no major road focus, failed by a wide margin.
Earlier this year, the city undertook another survey of city voters to gauge support of another sales tax measure for road. At that time, 70-percent of those polled said they would support a road tax, Sabatier said.
Measure V, he said, is a response to that.
Sabatier said he tells community members that the difference between Measure V and the previous measures is that Measure V is what citizens had indicated they were willing to support – one focused solely on improving roads, the city's No. 1 issue.
“Finally, this is the measure that is just focusing on that issue,” he said, with 100-percent of estimated revenue to go toward roads, not administration.
“This is the best measure that can ever be offered,” he said, pointing to the safeguards of a citizens oversight committee, the annual audit by the state of California and the 20-year sunset clause.
In meetings earlier this year during which the council fine tuned the measure's language, Sabatier was adamant that Measure V's language be clear and specific on road improvements.
“A lot of people have mistrust for the city of Clearlake,” Sabatier acknowledged.
However, to answer those concerns, he pointed to the city's track record on Measure P, adding that when looking at the city's inner workings, it becomes clear that officials have done what they said they would on such matters.
In an opposition argument submitted to the Lake County Registrar of Voters, city resident Dante DeAmicis calls the measure “a hodgepodge of short term fixes, top gaps, and a few paved road giveaways for people with influence.”
DeAmicis wants the city to pursue road improvement through the formation of road assessment districts, arguing that a sales tax measure is regressive.
In a rebuttal to DeAmicis' argument signed by members of the city council, it's explained that “Measure V will improve roads throughout the city, not just in areas that can afford an Assessment District.”
“At least half the residents in the county shop in Clearlake for taxable items and will help to spread the cost of road maintenance beyond just city residents,” according to the statement.
Sabatier explained that the city has, in fact, used a road assessment district in the past, to make improvements in the Clearlake Park area. However, that effort included no maintenance program, and the roads subsequently deteriorated.
“Other assessment districts have been tried and failed,” he said.
The main issue for the assessment districts, said Sabatier, is that the city must have money to put up front to engineer the plans before putting them to a vote. If they don't pass, the city is out the money it spent.
He said that the city's finances already are spread so thin that it would be difficult to come up with – and potentially lose – $500,000 for such a project.
Sabatier added that such money would have to come from the general fund, as residential streets can only be fixed with general funds or specific grants. Most state and federal grants and gas tax can't be used for residential, only arterial and collector streets.
The biggest challenge supporters of the measure are facing, said Sabatier, is the myth that a sales tax measure for roads already has been passed in the city of Clearlake because of the previous measures, which all passed the simple majority but not the required supermajority due to them being special taxes. Many of those who believe a tax already is in place also believe that the funds has been misused, thus the attempt at a new measure.
He said that after he explains the truth to people, he finds they don't oppose Measure V.
Sabatier said that good things are happening in the city, and that improved streets will add to the positive changes.
Recalling his time years ago playing the computer game “SimCity,” Sabatier said you could build nice buildings, but once you built the roads, “That's when things happen.”
With good roads come peoples' willingness to travel to and around the city, and enjoy what it has to offer, he said.
“This is the infrastructure needed as a foundation for our city,” he said.
Looking ahead, Sabatier said that if Measure V passes, he would hope that in 20 years the city would have increased property values, a better look, more businesses and increased revenue.
At the same time, it's estimated that the city's overall pavement condition index would rise from it's current failing grade in the 30s to about 60, which would still be in the “C” range but much improved, he said.
Improving and maintaining roads would result in lower costs, and at that point Sabatier envisions future possibilities of taking on the desire of many city residents – paving some of its 49 miles of dirt roads, many of them in residential neighborhoods.
To read Measure V in its entirely, as well as a fact sheet on city streets, visit the city of Clearlake's Web site at http://clearlake.ca.us/341/Measure-V or see the documents below.
For more information, to get updates and ask questions, see the Measure V Facebook page.
Measure W
Measure W will ask Clearlake residents to change the city clerk's position from elected to appointed.
Melissa Swanson, who also is a city administrative employee, has held the job since 2006.
No arguments against the measure have been submitted to the Registrar of Voters Office.
Measure X
Like Measure W, Measure X will ask city voters if they will approve converting another position from elected to appointed, in this case, the Clearlake city treasurer position.
While the position's tasks have been wrapped into the city's manager's duties, the city treasurer's post has been technically vacant since 2006, when longtime City Treasurer Elmer Maryatt retired. No one has opted to run for the job since then.
No arguments against the measure have been submitted to the Registrar of Voters Office.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
Clearlake Measure V language by LakeCoNews on Scribd
City of Clearlake street fact sheet by LakeCoNews on Scribd
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