Sales tax to extend funding for Merced police, fire won’t be on November ballot. What now?

Measure C’s tumultuous journey toward the November ballot halted abruptly Monday night, as the half-cent sales tax for public safety failed to garner the support necessary from Merced leaders.

An emotionally-charged discussion precipitated the split 4-3 vote, reflecting the divided opinion held by the community. Of over 20 residents who spoke during Monday’s special meeting, an equal number voiced support and opposition for the public safety tax.

Although a majority of City Council members supported placing the measure on the November ballot, this time without a sunset date, the four “yes” votes fell short of the five necessary for it to move forward.

Mayor Matt Serratto along with City Council members Delray Shelton, Sarah Boyle and Kevin Blake each voted to advance with the renewal. Councilmembers Bertha Perez, Fernando Echevarria and Jesse Ornelas cast their votes in opposition.

“I support Measure C. However, I’m not going to support it in this election,” Echevarria said in a comment that encapsulated many critics’ feelings.

But other city officials and residents stated with urgency that the renewal measure must move forward to the general election. “The timeline is tight. It has to be now,” Serratto said.

Since Merced voters passed the tax in 2006, Measure C has propped up the city’s police and fire departments, and paid for public works projects like road and street improvements ever since. The measure was approved with a 20-year sunset scheduled for 2026.

It’s estimated that without the half-cent tax, Merced would face a $7 million annual budgetary shortfall. Measure C’s expiration would also leave the roughly 30 police and fire department jobs supported by the tax without a stable funding source.

In the lead up to Monday’s vote, Serratto asked Echevarria and Perez what it would take for them to support the renewal measure. “If we don’t (pass) it now, we put ourselves in a whole world of hurt,” Serratto said.

But the Council members told the mayor they were steadfast in their opposition toward the tax at this time.

Although Measure C is no longer bound for the ballot this election, the city will have the opportunity to retry during future elections before the measure expires in 2026.

Critics condemn rushed process, lack of engagement

Whether to include a Measure C renewal on the general election ballot in November has largely divided Merced officials and residents during recent City Council meetings.

The saga began in June when the City Council voted 6-1 in favor of placing it on the ballot. City leaders faced minimal push back from the decision at the time.

That changed at the next City Council meeting in July however, when about a dozen critics voiced dissent. Opponents cited frustration over what they saw as minimal effort by the city to engage with residents about how the tax should look if renewed.

Opponents like Patricia Ramos-Anderson, president of the LULAC (League of Latin American Citizens) Los Banos Chapter, renewed that criticism Monday night. She said she couldn’t support a Measure C renewal until the city thoroughly engaged with residents about how their tax dollars should be used.

“You’re rushing it,” Ramos-Anderson said. “I don’t support (Measure C) at this time . . . wait two years, get the community involved. That is vital.”

Residents have criticized community polling of support for Measure C as rushed, poorly advertised to Merced residents and biased toward funding public safety, even if participants wanted tax dollars used in different ways, such as further supporting local needs like housing, youth, parks and other services.

Merced resident Gloria Sandoval reiterated those concerns Monday, stating that although she supports Measure C overall, she can’t support it in its current form.

Sandoval noted how although the tax is called a “vital city services protection measure,” the vast majority of funds raised go toward the police department rather than parks, the fire department other city services.

“It’s a little deceptive, a little misleading, to include the description of the measure as it is,” Sandoval said.

Others have criticized the City Council’s decision to put the measure on the ballot without a sunset date. If passed as such, the tax would remain in place until it’s placed on a future ballot and voters choose to repeal it.

Community members’ concerns resonated with some City Council members. Echevarria, who previously supported a Measure C renewal, later said he received a flood of emails and messages from constituents that changed his mind.

Echevarria also criticized Measure C polling for surveying an inadequate percentage of constituents in his District 2 and other south Merced areas compared to the north regions of the city. He called the polling biased and said it excluded many Hispanic and Latino residents from being surveyed.

Echevarria maintained that stance Monday. “I’m asking that we wait a little bit and that we have the survey be more engaging to our residents,” he stated. “It’s not an emergency. We still have time . . . but this process isn’t acceptable.”

Another point of conflict erupted over Measure C when it was discovered that an imminent deadline with the County Elections Office to put it on the ballot was inaccurate. The city had been operating under the assumption that staff had only until early July to execute the necessary documentation.

That inaccurate deadline guided city staff when Measure C renewal items were put on the City Council agenda and partially contributed to the process’s hurried pace, Merced’s City Manager previously told the Sun-Star. It was discovered the day of the City Council meeting that the deadline wasn’t actually until Aug. 12 — over a month away.

The revelation elicited frustration among council members and residents who realized they had more time to make a decision about how, or if, to put a Measure C renewal on the ballot. Perez, Echevarria and Ornelas each said the last-minute information left them feeling deceived.

Perez and Echevarria later said the inaccurate deadline partly contributed to their decision to change their votes from support to opposition.

That change resulted in a majority of the City Council voting to halt Measure C’s renewal. The absence of council members Kevin Blake and Sarah Boyle, who had each previously supported putting a the renewal measure, also contributed to the renewal stalling.

Advocates fear city’s future without Measure C

The City Council’s reversal appeared to put the tax’s fate in limbo until earlier this month, when renewal advocates appeared to make a comeback.

Following a show of community support for Measure C, the Council voted 6-1 during the first meeting in August to hold a special meeting Monday to reconsider including the tax in the upcoming election.

Monday’s meeting again drew a multitude of Measure C renewal supporters. Advocates voiced fears over how the city’s police and fire departments could adequately respond to an increasing population and a growing number of calls without the tax.

Annissa Fragoso, president of the Merced County Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, told the City Council she and her family would feel less safe without Measure C.

“Our population is going to continue to grow, and so will our crime,” Fragoso said. “I don’t want our current safety to be jeopardized, not now, not ever.”

Merced resident and County Treasurer-Tax Collector Karen Adams also addressed the Council Monday.

Adams said she was proud to see Merced ascend as a “city on the rise” during the past couple decades, recovering from the closure of the former Castle Air Force Base and the 2007-09 recession, but feared for the city’s recovery without Measure C.

“Our resiliency has built a momentum for prosperity, and we need to keep the momentum as a city on the rise by placing Measure Con the ballot,” Adams said.

Other speakers stated that regardless of any one person’s opinion about renewing Measure C, it should be placed on the ballot for Merced voters to make the final decision.

“I think it’s very important for the safety and security of the public,” Edwin Kainth, president of the Merced Hotel and Lodging Association, said of Measure C. “At least it should go to the November ballot. So let the public and the citizens of Merced decide.”

Prior to the City Council’s vote, the mayor made a final plea with his colleagues to support the tax.

Serratto listed several of the Council’s successes supporting parks, housing and other popular initiatives in recent years, stating that those efforts were all possible because the city was in good fiscal health. “That is in large part because of Measure C. If we don’t have that, then all of that, to a huge extent, goes away,” he said.

“I get your frustration. I get the attitude, a lot of people don’t like law enforcement,” Serratto said. “But it just seems that if we do this, if we vote no on this, what are we doing?”

Despite the show of support from residents and a majority of the City Council, it wasn’t enough to move Measure C along to the upcoming election.

Ornelas, the only Council member who consistently voted against renewing Measure C on account of opposing its current form and lack of community engagement, asserted that the renewal effort stalling presented an opportunity rather than a failure.

Ornelas said the city can now work to make the half-cent tax more equitable come the 2024 election by spreading it out more equitably across city departments.

“There’s an inability to get creative, a lack of desire to envision a different Merced. We just keep doing the status quo,” Ornelas said. “I’m passionate about how we’re going to invest in our communities and what that’s going to look like.”