MEASURE A - voting June 2

[tomcat]

Got my sample ballot. It's a 5 year quarter of a cent County wide sales tax increase proposal.

Got my first junk mail about Measure A today.

The mailer touts Measure A as being a tax to "FIX OUR ROADS". Bullsh**!

If Measure A passes (only needs 51%to pass) ALL of the money will go into the County general fund and can be spent any way the County wants to spend it.

They can spend it on police, fire, salaries, pensions, roads, or anything they like.

It began as a "Roads Tax", but that would have needed a 2/3 yes vote to pass.
So they changed it to a General Tax that only needs just over 1/2 yes vote to pass.
...and there is NO guarantee that ANY of it will be used for ROADS.

bait and switch? false advertising? ripoff?

Do they really think that people are that dumb? We'll see.

[Barry]

Here's Ballotpedia's page on Measure A.

Got my sample ballot. Measure A is a 5 year quarter of a cent County wide sales tax increase proposal....

[Sara S]

from today's Press Democrat:

Oppose road tax
EDITOR: Your Sunday editorial asks us to tax ourselves for county road repair (“Yes on A: County roads need the help”). But your reasoning escapes me:

Fifty-six percent of the new tax would go to the cities, not to the county.

Only one county supervisor expressed support for a contract to use the new tax for road repair. What about the other four supervisors?

Supervisors already have committed to allocating $40.8 million for roads over the next four years. Doesn’t that give them a reason to use the new tax for something besides road repair?

Your editorial says to take comfort that the tax will expire in five years. Why not say no now?

You say you and other organizations will be good watch dogs. But what can you do if the new taxes are not used for road repair? Nothing.

You seem to want us to trust the county supervisors. We did, and now we’re stuck with county salaries and pensions too large to sustain. I don’t belong to any anti-tax groups. But even I can see this new tax will not be going to county road repair. Certainly you must be able to see that, too.

CAROL MANGELS

Got my sample ballot. It's a 5 year quarter of a cent County wide sales tax increase proposal. Got my first junk mail about Measure A today. The mailer touts Measure A as being a tax to "FIX OUR ROADS". Bullsh**!...

[authenticeye]

I attended the City Council meeting Tuesday night in which Supervisor Carrillo provided an informational presentation for Measure A.
Here are a couple of screen shots from the PDF and I encourage people to read the entire PDF to further inform themselves.

You may also watch the video from the meeting - Supervisor Carrillo starts speaking at the 20:00 marker and answers public comments after.

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[Ted Pole]

Well, based on this thread, my limited knowledge of pretty much everything, my utter disgust for most things political, and my dark, conspiracy-addled view of the state of our roads, I will be voting against this tax.

If the funds were going directly to the repair and maintenance of our county roads, I'd be all for it. However, the "discretionary" aspect of how it can, and ultimately will be spent leads me to think it will go for everything but.

I feel that using veterans and starving students as a prop is a bit cheesy. How many of these folks are actually using the busses, and how will not passing this law prevent them from using said already running transit? Since no actual figures have been put forth as to how much giving these folks complementary fares costs, nor how much of this tax will be directed to those costs, this is another case of cynical tugging on the heartstrings.

And, I think this is the crux of the biscuit: No one appears to have done any homework on this except to say "we need this". And so, it is not surprising that the politician$ are for it, as well as the poor saps who don't see any other way to get the money for what they think will benefit them.

And lest you think that I am some kind of anti-tax, small gummint type, you would be wrong. I am also certain that voting against this tax is supported by the auto-repair cartel, who would see their gravy train slowed down a bit by roads that aren't proven to be detrimental to vehicles. Not to mention the SUV/4WD dealers.

And the idea that the Press Democrat and other entities would keep an eye on how the funds are spent made me choke on my pudding. "It is easier to ask for forgiveness than permission" is Standard Operating Procedure for most of these folks, and Mr. Carillo knows this more than most. You'll have to forgive me if can't stop giggling.

[Richard Nichols]

I've lost faith in our Supes and don't trust them to use the money wisely. I've voted NO on prop A

I attended the City Council meeting Tuesday night in which Supervisor Carrillo provided an informational presentation for Measure A.
Here are a couple of screen shots from the PDF and I encourage people to read the entire PDF to further inform themselves.

You may also watch the video from the meeting - Supervisor Carrillo starts speaking at the 20:00 marker and answers public comments after.