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Stanislaus, Merced join SJ in seeking half-cent for fixes
It's official: Voters in Stanislaus, San Joaquin and Merced counties will decide Nov. 7 whether to raise their sales taxes to help pay for road and rail projects. Supervisors in Stanislaus and Merced counties on Tuesday formally placed the matter on their respective November ballots. Both feature half-cent sales tax increases officials say are needed to fix roads and interchanges, help clear congestion and move vehicles more effi-ciently. "We've just fallen so far behind," Supervisor Jim DeMartini said, referring to the sad state of streets. County residents need "to tax ourselves to get the task done," he said. Passage requires two-thirds majority approval. Stanislaus County leaders will call their item Measure K to coincide with the renewal campaign in San Joaquin County. San Joaquin voters in 1990 approved a similar item by the same name and will vote Nov. 7 on whether to renew the tax increase, again called Measure K. State election law allows agencies to go out of sequence and name a measure with the same letter as one in a neighboring county as long as the two measures have similar content. Merced County supervisors haven't decided whether to leave their item as Measure O or step out of sequence. Voters in that county in June turned down an identical proposal called Measure A; it received 63 percent approval but needed 66.7 percent. Supervisors decided Tuesday to give it another go to avoid missing out on proceeds from a huge transportation bond going before California voters Nov. 7. "It's important to be in line to get our share," said Supervisor Kathleen Crookham. She referred to matching funds often reserved for "self-help" counties with special transportation taxes. Merced leaders plan to begin discussing strategy for reversing June's rejection at a Thursday meeting, Crookham said. Stanislaus County's Measure K would provide about $1 billion over 30 years, officials say. Three of the five supervisors said they had been hampered by the Stanislaus County Council of Governments. Supervisor Jeff Grover said StanCOG in years past "perceived itself as a planning organization that never had the intention of building anything." But a "significant change in attitude" has occurred with new leadership over the past 2½ years, Grover said. Supervisors Bill O'Brien and DeMartini agreed. "Matching money that might be available is a very important component," DeMartini added. "We will go to the front of the line for that money." Supervisor Tom Mayfield said he is unhappy with a spending plan that benefits state roadways — Highway 99, McHenry Avenue and Kiernan Avenue, for example — that the state should pay to improve. "I'm going to vote to let the people vote," Mayfield said, "but I don't agree with it." Oakdale City Council members did not take a position, but elected officials in the other eight cities in the county favor the tax bump. San Joaquin's existing Measure K expires in 2010, and leaders there want to extend it 30 years. The half-cent tax would raise about $2.5 billion over those three decades, they say. Seventeen other California counties have passed transportation taxes. By GARTH STAPLEY
BEE STAFF WRITER
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