West Sonoma County tax proposals defeated in low-turnout election

Two tax measures proposed to bolster school and fire district finances in west Sonoma County looked to be defeated on Wednesday, dealing a one-two punch to allied groups in the region who could not overcome vocal opposition from business interests and property owners worried about added tax burdens amid a pandemic.

With a vast majority of the vote tallied and only about 1,500 uncounted mail ballots in hand at the county election office, both Measure A and Measure B had too much ground to make up to clear the two-thirds threshold required for passage.

Measure A, a proposed $48 annual parcel tax, trailed with only 55% of the vote. Measure B, the more hotly disputed hike in lodging tax, secured 60% support — though still not enough to earn approval.

The preliminary results included more than 11,000 counted mail ballots and over 1,000 votes cast in person on Tuesday.

Mail ballots can continue to come in and be tallied through Friday — provided they were postmarked by Election Day — but election officials did not expect any significant influx to sway the results.

Participation among the roughly 37,339 eligible registered voters was downright dismal, at only 39% counting the ballots in hand, which included 150 provisional ballots.

“It will be a pretty tiny turnout,” said Deva Proto, the county’s election chief, who on Monday had projected turnout of 50%-60%.

Low voter participation and the successful stand by allied hoteliers and restaurateurs against Measure B were top take-aways from the pair of outcomes. The results mean immediate fiscal repercussions for the struggling West Sonoma County Union High School District and fire agencies in the region, chief among them the Bodega Bay Fire Protection District.

The losses also amount to a bruising political blow for Supervisor Lynda Hopkins, who represents the region and spearheaded the push for Measure B, especially. Late last year, she convinced her board colleagues to wade into the issue of school funding and hitch it to what had been a purely fire and emergency services proposal until that point.

Hopkins had called that move the riskiest of her five-year tenure as an elected official. On Wednesday she said she was confronted with a flurry of messages from concerned west county parents and fire officials expressing “almost a sense of panic” about the election outcome.

“I’m honestly hearing a lot of grief from community members who are pretty shocked at the results,” she said. “It never feels right in an election when a relatively small percentage makes a decision for so many just because so many stayed silent. That’s what is so hard to wrap my head around.”

Measure B opponents, however, said the results validated their delicate case against the lodging tax, which sought to cite the cost of any unwelcome impact on the region’s vital tourism industry while not questioning the need to support local schools and fire agencies.

That dichotomy was an uncomfortable one in recent months for many residents of the west county’s tight-knit communities.

“I’m thinking that we did our jobs well,” said Crista Luedtke, who owns Boon Hotel and Spa and several other businesses in town. She was a leading member of the Measure B opposition campaign, Save Sonoma Jobs.

Representatives for the group acknowledged that issues the tax proposals sought to address haven’t gone away.

“It’s kind of bittersweet,” said Joe Bartolomei, co-owner of the Farmhouse Inn in Forestville, who early on voiced dismay about having to square off over a tax to benefit schoolchildren and firefighters.

“I don’t think it was a well-written tax,” he said, but “at the end of the day we still have a serious problem and that’s a failing school district and unmet needs for emergency services.”

The board of directors for the Bodega Bay Fire Protection District already has scheduled an emergency meeting Friday to discuss next steps in light of Measure B’s failure, said Assistant Fire Chief Steve Herzberg.

The measure would have increased the tax on hotel beds and vacation rentals from 12% to 16% in west Sonoma County, raising an estimated $2.7 million annually to be split between school districts and fire agencies in the region.

Its failure deprives the Bodega Bay Fire Protection District of a key source of money to smooth its path to consolidate with the larger Sonoma County Fire District.

Paramedic services from both west county fire departments, but especially Bodega Bay, have been increasingly strained by emergency calls from visitors and tourists. Proponents of the tax hike sought to tap a greater share of those private dollars to bolster fire and emergency service budgets in the region, while also aiding schools.

The school board for the West Sonoma County Union High School District will also need to regroup to tackle a looming budget deficit, with no rescue from the revenue promised by either Measure B or Measure A.

Measure A sought to add funding for class programming, while limiting class sizes and providing bridge funding as the high school district considers a range of budget-saving options, including campus consolidations.

West County district board members at their March 10 meeting are set to resume exploring a scenario to consolidate the district’s three high schools by the start of the next school year, or else face dozens of layoffs at El Molino and Analy High School.

“I know that some folks are really disappointed, and I was disappointed because I think folks really had hoped this could kinda give them a lifeline,” said Jeanne Fernandes, vice president of the school board.

In December, the board determined that passage of either one of the tax measures would push school consolidation back at least a year. Both measures passing would have pushed any consolidation back an additional year.

“We will have to make some very hard decisions,” Fernandes said. “Consolidation is not off the table. It has to be on the table and has to be discussed.”

The election results also put a clear dent in Hopkins’ political armor, said David McCuan, a Sonoma State University political science professor.

Hopkins, a second-term supervisor who sailed to reelection last year, led the unprecedented push last fall to wrap in west county schools as recipients of revenue from the tourism tax measure. Until then, and since 2018, she had been crafting the measure as a funding mechanism to support fire districts.

Fellow supervisors gave the proposal mixed reviews, ultimately voting 4-1 to advance it to the ballot.

“It was always going to be a heavy lift,” McCuan said. Special elections are steep hills to climb because of voter turnout and dampened enthusiasm. Given the ongoing needs of the school and fire agencies, the measures could be a “two tripper” that return to the ballot in a changed form, McCuan said.

“Test your first time, lick your wounds and examine the results and move forward,” he said.

Hopkins, who could find her clout with the business community weakened by the loss, said she harbored no regrets about trying to break new ground with the proposal.

“I will never stop trying to solve community-based problems with innovative solutions,” she said, echoing comments she made last year. “I’m always going to regret the things I didn’t try to fix compared to the things I tried to fix but failed to do so.”

You can reach Staff Writers Kaylee Tornay at 707-521-5250 or kaylee.tornay@pressdemocrat.com and Andrew Graham at 707-526-8667 or andrew.graham@pressdemocrat.com.