Jessica Cejnar Andrews / Monday, March 7, 2022 @ 3:23 p.m. / Elections, Local Government
CC-DN Taxpayers Association's Petition to Repeal Measure R Sales Tax Will Go Before County Supervisors
Del Norte County Seal
Previously:
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A local taxpayers’ association has gathered enough signatures to place an initiative repealing Measure R — the county’s 1 cent sales tax measure — on the June ballot.
The initiative will be submitted to the Del Norte County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday. Supervisors could vote to repeal the tax, according to County Clerk-Recorder Alissia Northrup. They could vote to place the repeal on the June ballot or they could ask staff to return to them within 30 days with reports on how repealing Measure R would impact departments receiving those dollars, Northrup said.
“If they feel like they needed more information they could ask for certain things from the auditor, ask for things from me — those are their options,” Northrup told the Wild Rivers Outpost on Monday.
In November 2020, Del Norte County voters narrowly approved Measure R, with 5,018 voting yes out of a total of 9,989, according to the Del Norte County Elections Office. Revenue generated by Measure R would be used for law enforcement, emergency response, public infrastructure and other capital projects.
Measure R was projected to generate $1.2 million in revenue annually, according to the county’s staff report. However, it's expected to exceed its original projections, with the Auditor-Controller projecting revenue to be $1.6 million by the end of the fiscal year.
A similar 1 cent sales tax benefitting Crescent City — Measure S — also passed in 2020, with 904 out of 1,400 voters voting yes.
As of March 1, the Crescent City-Del Norte County Taxpayers Association gathered the 416 signatures needed to place the Measure R repeal on the June 6, 2022 ballot. According to the county’s staff report, the nonprofit organization submitted 852 signatures, though only 528 were verified.
One proponent of the Measure R repeal, Linda Sutter, claims that county administrators had broken a promise that tax revenue wouldn’t be used for salaries and benefits. She says members of the Measure R Oversight Committee and other citizens oversight committees for other taxes don’t receive proper training on “what to look for,” though she admitted she hasn’t been to a meeting and her efforts to obtain meeting minutes have been unsuccessful.
Sutter also mentioned the Tri Agency Economic Development Authority and a county proposal to contribute $70,000 to hire a director and pay the balance of an outstanding U.S. Department of Agriculture loan. To Sutter, that’s another failure of the county’s Citizens Oversight Committee, though that issue has nothing to do with Measure R.
“With the cost of gasoline going up, the inflationary prices of food and goods, this 1 cent sales tax for the Board of Supervisors to use at their beck and call for whatever they want, there’s no need for it,” Sutter told the Wild Rivers Outpost on Monday. “There’s no need to put it on the taxpayer anymore.”
The Crescent City-Del Norte County Taxpayers Association will also file repeals for Measure S, Crescent City’s 1 cent sales tax measure, as well as for a 2021 property assessment benefitting the Crescent Fire Protection District, organization president, Donna Westfall, told the Outpost on Monday.
Westfall said she’d have more information following Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting.
In response to Sutter’s claims, County Administrative Officer Neal Lopez said his predecessor, Jay Sarina, had promised that Measure R dollars wouldn’t be used to offset administrative salaries and benefits.
The county has kept that promise, said Lopez, who will give a report on Measure R before county supervisors discuss the efforts to repeal the tax measure.
“The only wages have been given to our law enforcement, corrections staff, dispatch staff,” Lopez told the Outpost. “Basically [Measure R] said support law enforcement. That’s what we did by trying to be more competitive.”
The Del Norte County Sheriff’s Office has been a long-standing training ground because it doesn’t pay as much as other agencies, Lopez said. The DNSO often loses staff to the Crescent City Police Department, the Brookings Police Department and the Curry County Sheriff’s Office. Measure R was created to help the county be more competitive with those other agencies and stop the revolving door, he said.
According to the county’s 2021-22 Adopted Budget for Measure R, $748,700 was used to maintain law enforcement and dispatch services.
Measure R dollars are also paying for positions the county has needed for years but has never had any dedicated funding for, Lopez said. This includes a code enforcement officer, a position in the Planning Department and a new Animal Control services position, he said.
“I wish they’d start asking questions a lot earlier,” Lopez said of Westfall and Sutter. “Donna and Linda were under the impression it was part of the general fund. It is a general tax, but we set it up in a special fund for that purpose — for better oversight and better transparency. It’s actually to be accounted for in a separate checking account.”
As for the Measure R Oversight Committee, its specific function is to ensure Measure R dollars do not supplant existing services or projects, according to the county’s staff report.
While Oversight Committee members didn’t receive formal training, Lopez said he and Auditor-Controller Clinton Schaad instructed them on their rules and responsibilities when they began meeting and at subsequent meetings.
“We just had a meeting Friday and it’s something we went over with them again,” he told the Outpost.
The Del Norte County Board of Supervisors will meet at 10 a.m. Tuesday at the Flynn Center, 981 H Street in Crescent City. The public can also participate via Zoom.
Documents:
• Certification to Repeal Measure R
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