Arguments against Measure B in Merced include doubt and disagreement over where the city will spend revenues, and the idea that it would be a “forever tax” at a time when families are struggling under the weight of high inflation.
“Right now Measure B is a blank check,” says LaTanya Ri’Chard, a local community organizer. “They are not telling us where it’s going. They are not saying anything but ‘vital services.’ And vital services are usually where all the money goes for the city, which is just policing. And that’s not full community protection. It’s not a full community investment. People on the south side get to pay into all of these taxes, and they don’t get any benefits from it. There’s no sidewalks there. We have to fight hard to get a grocery store. We’ve been fighting for it, and the city keeps saying they don’t build anything. … If the city is not investing in these neighborhoods, who wants to put money into something that they don’t get a chance to benefit from?”
If approved by voters, Measure B would increase the city’s sales tax rate by 1 percent, or one cent. The city estimates the general tax measure will raise about $18 million per year for use in the city for all general city governmental purposes. It comes with citizen oversight of all spending, along with independent annual audits. There’s no sunset clause; however, local voters do have the ability to end the measure through a future ballot process.
Ashley Marie Suarez, a policy advocate for Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability, says her organization’s outreach is showing that residents are not feeling confident about the city investing new sales tax monies into areas in need of basic infrastructure and services when they haven’t seen much investment already, or haven’t at least seen their neighborhood concerns on a priority list.
“They felt a way to make the measure stronger would have been to make it a special tax aimed at either specifically helping south Merced or other community priorities like housing or infrastructure needs,” Suarez says. “They didn’t really seem too excited or happy that the City Council would be able to decide how to spend this $18 million. Residents have been advocating for decades on a lot of these needs and they haven’t seen things move forward. They are not confident things are going to get done if this measure does pass.”
Another thing Suarez points out is that residents are “super worried” that the measure is a “forever tax” with no expiration date — unlike the existing Measure C and Measure V sales tax measures that were passed by local voters in recent years.
What if it wasn’t working — at all — five years down the road? was one of the reported concerns. Suarez said her organization had to explain to residents that in order to end Measure B, residents would have to collect signatures to get a countermeasure on a future election ballot, and then manage to win with a majority of votes.
“They were very worried, and it seemed unfair to them. And aside from that, if the measure passes, it will boost up the tax rate one whole percent, from 8.25 percent to 9.25 percent. … and that would be the cap for the City of Merced, and they wouldn’t be able to increase it afterward. So if residents wanted to propose a special tax in the future, specifically for housing, they wouldn’t be able to do it. … So what we are seeing from residents is that they’re not anti-tax, I think they’re just not super happy about Measure B being a general tax that doesn’t have an explanation of where it’s going. And it doesn’t seem like there’s going to be a way to hold elected officials accountable”
Suarez says her Leadership Counsel holds monthly community meetings to talk with residents and report on their concerns, in person or online. They also have phone banking and partner calls with other organizations in town.
“Overwhelmingly, the biggest response that we are getting is: ‘I don’t want higher taxes,’ and alternatively, they will say, ‘I haven’t heard about this, and I need to find out more.’
“I myself have contributed a few hours of phone banking, and I haven’t heard a single person say yes they were in support of Measure B. And based on the data we’ve been collecting from phone banking, it’s like 1 percent of the people were in favor of it, so it’s very minimal support.”
LaTanya Ri’Chard, the community organizer, is not surprised by the reaction local grassroots organizations are receiving about Measure B.
“I’m hearing the same things,” she says. “People don’t want another tax period. But if we have to have a tax, we would like it to be a special tax. We want it specified where the money is going to go. … If we had dedicated the money to help homeless people, or to go for a tenant protection program, or for an eviction relocation program, or eviction protection, or it is going to go for students and youth programs — actual, specific plans — that would be amazing. But they’re not giving us specific plans. We know that money is going to policing. Flock cameras, or anything that they want in the guise of public safety.
“Public safety doesn’t just come from policing. It comes from making sure people have homes. It comes from giving people protections so they don’t become unhoused. It comes from giving local kids things to do. You can’t just police your way into public safety. There’s other things that you have to do, or have in place, to ensure public safety. … They hate preventative measures, and it’s so strange that they would rather address it after it happens, instead of preventing it before it happens.”
It’s no coincidence Ri’Chard’s stance on Measure B is close to the viewpoints of Merced City Councilman Fue Xiong. It was Xiong who cast the lone NO vote when the Council decided to put the measure on this year’s ballot. Xiong was adamant that the ballot proposal was disingenuous and that it would only serve to send millions of more taxpayer dollars to fund police and fire efforts. Both Xiong and Ri’Chard are listed as authors of the Argument Against Measure B in the official ballot information packet that was mailed to voters.
The two dissenters, along with Adam Shane, Marilyn Sobel and Jasmine Diaz-Shane, wrote: “Just 2 years ago, the new Measure C imposed another sales tax with 95 percent of its revenue dedicated to Police and Fire. And now this Council is back asking for more money for police and fire. This is a spending and priority failure. The City historically and continues to allocate more than 75 percent of its General Fund budget to police and fire.”
Says Suarez, “Residents really would like to see more investment in existing communities than focusing on sprawl development or investing in newer communities, because that’s kind of just adding more responsibility on the city. Those are roads the city is going to have to take care of in the future. And just based on the city’s practices in the past, they are not doing such a great job of addressing older roads, especially on smaller city streets, where folks have to walk through or navigate.
“That’s just one example. … For Merced residents, it just seems like they’re not able to make the money work — the money that they’re already collecting through Measure V.
“Why are we going to give them more because it seems like they just keep adding to their plate of things to do in the future? … It’s going to seem like they are going to constantly depend on residents to foot the bill.”