In tax measure for parks, Sonoma County seeks to build 'world-class' destination
Stepping through a narrow gap in a barbed wire fence, Caryl Hart walked to an overlook on a windswept peak north of Bodega Bay as a herd of black and brown cows grazed nearby.
Morning fog retreated across the blue-gray ocean, revealing a stunning expanse of coastline. From where she stood on Wright Hill, Hart, Sonoma County’s Regional Parks director, reveled in a view that extended from Mount Tamalpais, overlooking the Golden Gate in the south, to Point Reyes National Seashore, Bodega Head, the mouth of the Russian River and the community of Jenner in the north.
“Isn’t this mind-blowing?” Hart said. “This place is going to be so popular.”
But public enjoyment of this particular landscape - 1,238-acre Wright Hill Ranch, protected by taxpayer dollars from development nearly a decade ago but still gated to general access - and a wider swath of potential and future parkland depends, Hart says, on whether voters in unincorporated Sonoma County will agree to tax themselves to pay more for parks.
Measure J, a half-cent sales tax increase on the Nov. 8 ballot, would generate an estimated $95 million over a 10-year term to open up protected open space, expand recreational amenities and boost upkeep of existing county park sites, many of them beset with crumbling infrastructure.
Hart, a longtime parks advocate, has spearheaded the campaign for Measure J, taking leave from her job to lobby for the initiative, which she said would protect the legacy of a county park system established 50 years ago.
“We live in one of the most beautiful places on the planet and are stewards of enormous biodiversity,” Hart said. “Over 50 years, we have gradually built our amazing park system, and now we need to insure its sustainability.”
The tax measure has grown out of the ambitious vision she has put forward for Regional Parks since taking over in 2010, as well as a parks plan adopted by county supervisors in 2015. Hart’s loftiest proposals haven’t always been well received, including plans to link public wildlands in the west county with a network of trails and public shuttles and a new visitor center on the shore of Bodega Bay.
But among the chief obstacles now standing in the way of Hart’s vision for a “world-class” county parks system is a funding gap she and other Measure J supporters say has stymied efforts to upgrade existing sites and open protected lands already set aside by the county’s Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District. Those properties include Wright Hill Ranch, initially purchased for transfer to California State Parks, and an additional 1,000 acres awaiting development as county parkland.
“We feel we have lifted every possible rock looking for funding, and we felt that was part of our obligation before going to voters,” Hart said.
The parks system is largely supported by fees paid by users. Measure J marks the first time voters are being asked to support a dedicated tax funding source for the system since its creation in 1967 with the opening of Doran Regional Park in Bodega Bay. Today, the network spans 56 parks, trails and beaches, totaling 12,000 acres.
The proposed sales tax increase would raise about $10 million annually for the system, which in addition to fees relies on tax support from the county’s general fund. Its annual budget is approximately $24 million, which includes Regional Parks, county-owned marinas and maintenance of other county lands.
The initiative is unusual in that only residents living in unincorporated areas of the county will vote on it. That’s because the new tax would apply only to purchases made outside cities. In those areas, the sales tax rate would go from 8.25 percent to 8.75 percent.
Critics of the initiative say it unfairly places the onus on residents living in unincorporated areas to pay more for parks, which are used and enjoyed by all. But supporters say the real inequity would be asking city dwellers to pay more, when many already support local parks through special tax measures or property assessments. In addition, the sales tax in most cities already eclipses that in unincorporated areas.
“Those of us who live in the city, and I’m one who lives in Santa Rosa, are paying for city parks already, so it seemed fair in terms of how we did this,” said Sonoma County Supervisor Shirlee Zane, a Measure J proponent.
Because the funds would be allocated specifically to Regional Parks, the measure requires two-thirds approval to pass. For that reason alone, some political observers say it faces stiff odds.
The Sonoma County Taxpayers Association, the only organized opposition to Measure J, opposes the initiative on the grounds that it does nothing to address the county’s pension costs. Those skyrocketing costs - up 500 percent since 2000 - deprive the county of more revenue to address needs in parks, as well as with roads and other infrastructure, the association contends.
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