Santa Rosa weighs placing public safety tax extension on November ballot

Santa Rosa voters could see a funding request on the November ballot to extend the city’s quarter-cent public safety sales tax, in place since 2005.

It could be one of several items on a packed city ballot, where voters will weigh who will fill four of seven council seats, potential changes to the city charter and a possible countywide child care sales tax, among other proposals.

The Public Safety and Violence Prevention Funding Measure, known as Measure O, provides a dedicated funding stream for police, fire and prevention programs in Santa Rosa.

The tax was approved by voters in 2004, as the city experienced a rise in violent crime. It generates about $10 million annually and funds more than two dozen public safety positions, comprising up to 7% of the police and fire budget.

Measure O is set to expire in March 2025 unless voters renew it.

The Santa Rosa City Council in July is expected to consider referring an extension to the November ballot. Still to be determined is how long the tax would be extended for, how the revenue would be spent and whether to bump the tax to a half-cent, though Mayor Chris Rogers said there likely isn’t support for raising the tax.

“Now is the time to continue investing,” Council Member Natalie Rogers said. “I don’t want to see what will happen if we take it away.”

City staff kicked off a three-month public outreach process on April 6 with a presentation to a city committee tasked with ensuring the tax is spent as intended.

The city plans to host town hall events in each council district with the first two scheduled for 6 to 7 p.m. April 14 at Finley Community Center, 2060 W. College Ave., and April 19 at Santa Rosa High School, 1235 Mendocino Ave.

Santa Rosa officials plan to send mailers, conduct online surveys and poll voters to gauge whether residents would support a renewal and gather feedback on how the money should be used. Information will be provided in English and Spanish, and city staff hope to host at least one informational event completely in Spanish.

If the tax isn’t renewed, police and fire could face cuts and youth and family services could be scaled back.

Council members say there’s broad community support for extending the tax, and that some residents hope the extension presents an opportunity to rethink how the money is spent.

Vice Mayor Eddie Alvarez said the original intent was to fund community-focused programs but the bulk of the money goes to police and fire. Residents he’s spoken to want to see that change, he said.

“The intent was proper … but I believe we fell short with the investment,” he said.

Tax funds police jobs to youth programs

Revenue generated from Measure O goes into three buckets:

• Fire services: 40%
• Police services: 40%
• Violence prevention programs: 20%

The tax brought in $10.7 million last fiscal year, nearly $4.3 million each for police and fire and $2.1 million for violence prevention, city documents show.

It generated $6.8 million in the first nine months of the 2022 fiscal year, about $2.7 million for police and fire and $1.4 million for violence prevention, according to the city.

Measure O helps fund more than 25 police and fire positions and pays for public safety equipment and youth programs and family services.

The Santa Rosa Police Department used the funding to establish a substation in the Santa Rosa Transit Mall and increase officer presence downtown.

Funding was used to build three fire stations, and the city set aside tax money to relocate two fire stations in Roseland and southeast Santa Rosa.

Measure O also pays for after-school programs and camps, sports leagues, college readiness programs and workforce development. Part of the money goes to nonprofits that provide parent education and family mental health support.

Greater emphasis on prevention

The police department wants to increase community policing initiatives if the tax is renewed, Capt. John Cregan told the Measure O Oversight Committee during the April 6 meeting.

The department wants to add substations across the city, including one in Roseland that would be staffed by Spanish-speaking personnel, he said.

Rogers said the city could use Measure O funding to fund a revamped school resource officer program and expand the city’s inRESPONSE mental health team, which responds to nonviolent emergencies related to mental health, homelessness and substance use and currently operates 10 hours a day.

The Santa Rosa Fire Department would put revenue toward wildfire prevention and preparedness. The department will continue to use the money to build and relocate fire stations, staff the stations and buy equipment, Fire Chief Scott Westrope told the committee.

But residents want to see a greater investment in early intervention programs, park and recreation programs for young people and social services for families, Council Member Rogers said.

She said her west Santa Rosa constituents have noted an improvement in crime rates since the tax was approved due to the related prevention programs. More money should be allocated to those efforts, she said.

Rogers supports distributing the money equally among the three buckets, but the final allocation will depend on what the community wants, she said.

Alvarez said he’s heard the same from residents in his district. He wants to see the share of money that goes to violence prevention bumped up to 34%.

“We’ve seen that a proactive approach to crime is the best approach, and at 20% I don’t think that’s enough,” he said, and added that increasing the allocation would speak to how “serious we are about equity and investing in the community.”

Will a tax measure pass?

Though council members say residents appear to favor extending the tax based on early conversations with residents, support at the ballot box for funding requests can be unpredictable.

The renewal requires a two-thirds approval and that’s a high bar to meet, Mayor Rogers said.

Voters in March 2020 rejected a countywide half-cent sales tax for fire protection and a 30-year extension of the quarter-cent sales tax for SMART, but supported that November two countywide tax hikes that fund mental health services and road and highway upgrades.

Whether a renewal passes could hinge on issues facing the community at the time the measure lands on the ballot, such as economic strain and public safety concerns, Rogers said.

Though reported crime has fallen since the tax was first approved, a perceived uptick during the COVID-19 pandemic could benefit the measure, he said. Though there has been an increase in homicides and aggravated assaults statewide, crime overall hit historic lows in 2020, according to a report by the Public Policy Institute of California.

Rogers said the council will have to weigh how crowded the ballot will be in November and whether another funding measure could hinder the chances of a renewal passing.

A coalition of local civic groups is lobbying to boost child care and children’s health care services through a quarter-cent countywide sales tax. The campaign must collect at least 21,038 signatures by July 19 to qualify for the ballot.

Rogers said 2022 might not be the right time to refer the tax to the ballot, but that could mean risking letting it expire if voters don’t support a renewal in 2024.

Departments are already bracing for a budget hit.

Cregan and Westrope told the oversight committee that their departments are discussing how to shift funding to meet projected shortfalls.

Violence prevention programs would be nearly wiped out if the tax isn’t renewed.

Magali Telles, the city’s community engagement director, said most programs under her wing are solely funded by the sales tax. The city would have to find another funding mechanism if it wants to continue prevention work, she said.

Those outreach efforts became even more vital in the aftermath of the 2020 social justice protests.

“That whole section of Measure O would be gone,” Telles said during the oversight committee meeting. “We just wouldn’t have that staff or support.”

Ellen Bailey, who worked with the city’s gang prevention services for about 10 years, said she’s seen firsthand the impact the funding has made in the community.

“Those services are still very much needed,” said Bailey, who also serves as chair of the Measure O Oversight Committee. “This is important for the youth and families in our community, and it would be a loss if we lost that funding.”

You can reach Staff Writer Paulina Pineda at 707-521-5268 or paulina.pineda@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @paulinapineda22.