Here’s a look at the sales tax measures on the Sonoma County ballot and what they do.

So you’ve made it past the front page of the November 5 ballot, beyond the race for the White House and the race for seats in Congress and state legislatures.

The following pages feature the bulk of local ballots, including city council, school board, and special district elections that help decide who leads local government.

And then there are tax issues.

All Sonoma County voters this election are being asked to decide the fate of at least two sales tax measures that will take effect throughout the region.

Voters in Sonoma, Sebastopol and Cloverdale also placed a third municipal sales tax increase on their ballots.

And many voters across the county will be voting on school bonds (there are nine in total) that aim to raise a total of $584 million, largely to fund campus upgrades through an annual surcharge on property tax bills.

In addition, there are a pair of government bond initiatives, including Proposition 2, which would raise additional tax money to pay for K-12 and community college upgrades, and Proposition 4, which would fund new projects on climate resiliency, water, and weatherization. forest fires. .

County-wide tax measures

But let’s return to local tax measures. Sonoma County has seven existing county-level sales tax measures that voters have approved and renewed since 1990.

The latest of these measures, a half-cent sales tax to raise additional money for fire protection and staffing, took effect this month. He raised the sales tax charged to consumers countywide by 0.5 percentage points, the equivalent of 50 cents for every $100 spent.

This election asks voters to extend one existing tax to support the county library system and add another tax to expand staffing and child care programs and support children’s health services.

Library System Tax Update, Measure Wattsseeks permanent extension of eighth-cent sales tax, which has helped expand staffing and hours of operation and pay for upgrades at 15 branches.

The original sales tax measure, Measure Y, passed in 2016 and received 72% voter support. It raised about $16 million annually (about $85 million today), and the revenue stream now accounts for about 40% of the library’s operating budget.

The measure still has two years of funding remaining, so an extension could come back into the budget if Measure W fails to reach the required two-thirds majority needed to pass.

The second countywide sales tax measure is a proposed quarter-cent increase that would raise more than $30 million annually to support local affordable child care and health care programs, according to the Santa Rosa-based campaign. With no expiration date, it will remain in effect until voters overturn it through another vote.

Measure I proposes devoting 60% of revenues to child care, including employee compensation, workforce growth and expanding the child care network overall. The remaining 40% will go toward early childhood health and development programs, including perinatal and early childhood mental health, pediatric screening and treatment, and assistance to children facing challenges such as homelessness.

It has no formal opposition and only needs a simple majority to pass, as it was put on the ballot through a signature campaign.

City sales tax on ballot

In Sonoma Measure Trepresents a proposed half-cent sales tax increase to fund essential city services and address city hall deficits.

It would raise the city’s sales tax rate from 9.5% to 10%, and under Measure I, countywide, it would increase to 10.25%, reaching the current state cap for Sonoma County and its cities.

Measure T would generate an additional $3 million annually to fund public safety programs, affordable housing and the creation of a parks and recreation department that Sonoma does not have.

City officials approved a similar half-cent sales tax increase for general purposes in 2012 and extended it through 2016 and 2020, without interruption. Measure T will also remain in effect until it is repealed by voters if it is included in a future election by the City Council or a citizen’s initiative.

In Cloverdale, voters are being asked to approve a three-quarter-cent sales tax increase to help repave streets, improve parks and open spaces, and fund public safety staffing and response. The city, along with Windsor, is one of two in the county that does not have its own voter-approved municipal sales tax.

Measure DD would have made a difference if it had been approved by a simple majority of voters. It is projected to bring in about $1.66 million annually.

Currently, Cloverdale’s sales tax rate is 9%, with more than half of the revenue going to the state government and the rest being distributed among various county agencies. The state returns about $1.1 million of its share of the sales tax to Cloverdale each year, according to City Manager David Kelly.

In Sevastopol, Measure UA proposed half-cent sales tax increase could raise $1.52 million a year for a city facing one of its worst financial crises in decades.

The measure requires a simple majority vote to pass and will expire after 12 years.

The City Council has signaled it will spend most of the revenue, about 60%, on public safety staffing and response. The rest can go toward projects including wildfire and emergency preparedness, street and road maintenance, parks and trails, a new library building, youth and senior services, local business retention and attraction, and general government use.

The city, which already has two voter-approved sales taxes, faces a potential sales tax cap conflict if Measure I passes countywide. More information about this legal conflicts course can be found here.