Measure DD: Tax renewal would fund county’s road and transit projects for next 20 years

Sonoma County voters will decide this November whether to extend for 20 more years a sales tax to fund road and infrastructure projects, including upgrades to bicycle and pedestrian paths and enhancements to the region’s bus connections.

Measure DD, otherwise known as the Go Sonoma Act, is a continuation of the existing quarter-cent sales tax that county voters approved in 2004. A portion of that money goes to each city and the county to make improvements to the local transportation system.

The current tax doesn’t expire until 2025, but all of the remaining funds are already committed to a variety of planned road and transit projects, including the Highway 101 lane widening between Petaluma and Novato. Local transportation agencies now need an early extension of the measure to continue securing state and federal grants for the next set of infrastructure projects in the county, according to transportation authority officials.

If approved, the Measure DD tax would take effect upon the expiration of the existing tax, Measure M, in March 2025 and last into 2045. Measure DD requires approval from two-thirds of voters to pass and is initially expected to generate $26 million per year, and $670 million over its life.

“This is an opportunity to look at the investments over the next decades,” said Supervisor Susan Gorin, board chairwoman of the county’s transportation authority. “We’ve been so grateful to voters for their support of the sales tax primarily to widen Highway 101 and work in a smaller way to support SMART and transit and local roads and bike lanes. Now, it’s time with completion of Highway 101 in Sonoma County to bring those investments back to the local level to benefit folks who have been supporting the measure for a very long time.”

Through April, Measure M has generated more than $305 million for road and infrastructure needs across the county. It is expected to bring in a total of $418 million before it sunsets, which is about $50 million less than originally projected because of economic downturns over that period.

The current measure dedicated 40% of its funding toward the Highway 101 widening project through the Marin-Sonoma Narrows. That overall project has a total cost of $738 million and leveraged the sales tax to garner outside grants at a rate of 5-to-1 to fund the difference, according to the agency. The Sonoma County side is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2022, with the Marin section currently targeting the end of 2023.

With the large-scale highway project nearing its finish, the tax renewal would rededicate that portion of funds across other transportation needs. The prior measure also provided 5% of its revenues to SMART, the North Bay’s commuter rail system, for startup funding ahead of the system passing its own quarter-cent measure in 2008, and those proceeds will also be reallocated within Measure DD.

“We have used this local money over the last 16 years to bring in hundreds of millions of dollars of state and federal money that we likely would otherwise not have gotten,” said Suzanne Smith, executive director of the county’s transportation authority. “The result has been major improvements to the infrastructure, but our work isn’t done, and, frankly, it never will be. Because we have to maintain the system and improve upon it, which is part of what running a transportation system is.”

Under the new plan, 65% of the funds, or about $17 million each year, would go to road projects, between upkeep and pothole repairs, and improvements to traffic flow and safety. The remaining 35%, or about $9 million each year, would be split between upgrading the local bus systems and building more bike and pedestrian pathways — both pegged to reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the county.

The funding that would go to the three local bus systems is more than double what they receive in the current tax measure. The portion dedicated to bikes and pedestrian enhancements is triple that of Measure M.

Measure DD is supported by the Northern California Engineering Contractors Association, Sonoma County Alliance and Operating Engineers Local 3. The Board of Supervisors and each of the county’s cities, with the exception of Windsor, also backed the extension.

Not everyone is sold on the new measure, however. A group of business-focused organizations has called for opposing all tax measures this election cycle, including the road tax renewal, a countywide sales tax for homelessness and mental health needs, and the six individual city tax measures on the November ballot.

The group, which dubbed itself the 2020 Tax Moratorium Coalition, includes the North Bay Leadership Council, Sonoma County Farm Bureau, Santa Rosa Metro Chamber and North Coast Builders Exchange, as well as Citizens for Action Now Sonoma County. They state that now, during an economic recession caused by the coronavirus pandemic, is not the time to pass any tax measures, whether they’re new or an extension.

“We’re sticking to our message, which is that none of them is the right thing at this time because of economic crisis and the need for a tactical pause until we figure out what’s really happening after the pandemic,” said Cynthia Murray, the North Bay Leadership Council’s president and chief executive officer, who is co-chairwoman of the coalition.

“The arguments (against), I find them spurious,” said Rohnert Park Vice-Mayor Jake Mackenzie, a longtime appointee to several regional transportation boards. “To me, it’s very serious at this point in time to be able to continue to advance and continue to be recognized as we have been in the Bay Area as people that get things done. It’s been a benefit to the overall transportation system in Sonoma County and I believe this continuation — not an increase — of tax has shown its merits in the past.”

You can reach Staff Writer Kevin Fixler at 707-521-5336 or kevin.fixler@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @kfixler.