Report Prepared by: Stephanie Dietz, Assistant City Manager
Title
SUBJECT: Report to the City Council on the Current Measure C Educational Efforts and an Update on Next Steps for Conducting a Feasibility Survey Regarding a Potential November 2020 Ballot Measure
REPORT IN BRIEF
Report to the City Council on the current Measure C educational efforts and an update on next steps for conducting a feasibility survey regarding potential November 2020 ballot measures.
RECOMMENDATION
City Council - Adopt a motion providing staff direction to continue existing Measure C educational efforts and to return to the City Council with the results of the Feasibility Survey for further direction.
Body
ALTERNATIVES
1. Approve as recommended by staff; or
2. Approve, subject to notifications as conditioned by Council; or
3. Deny the request completely; or
4. Refer back to staff for reconsideration of specific items as requested by Council; or
5. Defer action until a specified time
AUTHORITY
City of Merced Charter, Section 200
CITY COUNCIL PRIORITIES
FY 2019/20 City Council Priorities, Staffing - Measure C
DISCUSSION
On April 1, 2006, a voter approved general-purpose half-cent sales tax went into effect. Locally know as Measure C, sales tax funding has been historically used to support public safety services and local street projects. Measure C was approved for a period of 20 years, set to sunset in 2026. With the approval of the half-cent sales tax, a Citizens Oversight Committee was also created to create community accountability and ensure that additional funding was allocated in accordance with voter approval.
During the economic downturn, Measure C was used to stabilize public safety services by directly funding positions within the Police and Fire departments. As the economy began to stabilize, the City Council directed staff to develop a plan to transition positions from Measure C to more sustainable funding sources. A total of four positions have been transferred off Measure C support to date. Even with this initial progress, staffing levels are still heavily subvented by Measure C, with a total of 20.49 FTE remaining in the Police Department and 12.30 FTE remaining in the Fire department.
Measure C funding has become a critical funding source for public safety services to the residents of Merced. On July 1, 2019, the City Council recognized the importance of Measure C and directed staff to begin evaluating the development of an education strategy to test the viability of extending Measure C on a potential November 2020 ballot. In addition to seeking a strategy to extend Measure C in its current form, the Council also expressed an interest in exploring other options, including but not limited to, removal of the sunset date, potentially adding a quarter-cent to support Parks Maintenance, and evaluating extending the general sales tax or amending the tax to a special sales tax with varying thresholds for voter approval.
This report is an update to the Council on the progress staff has made to inform residence about the impact Measure C has on public safety and street services and also to share an outline of next steps for conducting a feasibility survey and other options to consider should the City Council choose to place an item on the November ballot.
IMPACT ON CITY RESOURCES
Funding for current efforts was previously allocated by the City Council. There is no additional fiscal impact at this time.
ATTACHMENTS
1. Presentation