Sutter County's Measure A set to fail with 244 ballots left to count

Nov. 19—Sutter County updated its Nov. 8 election results on Friday and while most races and measures stayed relatively the same, the fate of the county's one cent sales tax measure appeared poised to fail.

With just 244 ballots left to count countywide, according to Sutter County Clerk Donna Johnston, voters rejected Measure A with 13,951 votes cast against the one cent sales tax increase that was intended to help fund vital county services, including public safety. According to Friday's update, 13,039 voters chose to support the measure.

Measure A called for an added one cent sales tax for a period of nine years that would have raised about $19 million a year in revenue for the county. If the increase was approved, the new county retail sales tax rate would have been 8.25%. A one cent increase is an additional cent on each dollar spent.

Because of the county's limited ability to generate tax revenue and compete with surrounding counties and jurisdictions, it is now at risk of more cuts, including to its fire department and sheriff's department. Along with public safety departments, the county's museum and library are also at risk of losing funding.

Sutter County District 3 Supervisor Mike Ziegenmeyer suggested in August when the Sutter County Board of Supervisors voted to put Measure A on the ballot that county services such as the museum or library could be at risk if more revenue isn't generated in a timely manner.

"I'm not gonna cut public safety, that's last on the list. I'm gonna look at something else to cut," Ziegenmeyer said in August. "... I believe in the arts. I believe in the museum. I believe in the library. But we're going to have to make cuts that are going to help keep the community safe. I hate to say this, but those are going to be some of the first places we look at."

On Friday in a call with the Appeal, Ziegenmeyer said his number one priority moving forward is going to be public safety.

"Everything else will have to take a back seat until we can get this figured out," he said.

However, when asked about the fate of the museum and library specifically, Ziegenmeyer did express a real desire to keep those funded for the county's citizens.

"I love the library and I love the museum," Ziegenmeyer said. "I'm going to do whatever possible to keep those services. ... I think it's important. Those are two important things in the community I don't think you can get rid of. Especially when we want to be ahead and get other businesses moving here. We take pride in those."

Ziegenmeyer said he couldn't legally tell people that money generated from Measure A would 100% go toward police and fire, but that was always his intention — as evidenced by his votes and time on the Sutter County Board of Supervisors.

"Measure A would have bolstered our public safety units — fire, sheriff's department and dispatch," Ziegenmeyer said. "We have two dispatchers right now. You have fire captains getting trained right now to work at dispatch because we have no staff. The reason we have no staff is because we can't compete with other agencies. All I wanted to do was be within one percentage point of other agencies and convince them to stay."

Sutter County Administrator Steve Smith said Friday that it's too early to say what exactly may need to be cut moving forward.

"We have a mid-year budget review coming up," Smith said. "We'll go into our budget review cycle in January. I don't anticipate immediate service cuts. With vacant positions that come up, we'll likely hold those positions. There could be service cuts based on the number of vacancies. ... We may have to shift people."

He said some programs may be put on pause.

"We're going to do our best to maintain and work with our partners in the cities and regions to maintain," Smith said. "We're working on possible joint dispatch and other things. ... I don't anticipate (changes) right away, but as vacancies come up, we'll likely keep them vacant. We will likely keep the position unfilled to save money at least in the general fund departments."

Smith previously said that even if the county couldn't properly fund the library or museum, that would only be a temporary solution to the county's overall funding concerns.

"I think all county services are vital. The library is packed all the time. It's such a great resource," Smith previously said. "We may have to at some point (cut it), but it would probably be along with other stuff. If you cut the library or museum, you've solved the problem for maybe a year or less."

Ziegenmeyer said Friday that just making cuts to the library or museum weren't the solution to the overall problem with the county's ability to fund services.

"We've been thinking about what our Plan B and Plan C are," Ziegenmeyer said. "We're thinking about the Kmart property. That could net the county millions. But that's one-time money. That one-time money doesn't get you more than a year. You cannot run a county by grants or one-time money. The growth out there for the county is just not there."

According to the county, it has the second fewest employees per capita of the 31 counties within California with a population of 200,000 or fewer.

"We've been cutting for 10 years," Smith previously said. "... We're always going to do our best. And we're going to balance the budget no matter what. ... My department, we're super thin. Other departments are super thin compared to other counties. Right now we're really lucky to have a dedicated and smart workforce in Sutter County, but when you're paying less, who do you think you're going to get? We're lucky to have what we have. It's not realistic that it can go on."

Because of Sutter County's unique geography, there are limitations for the type of growth that is possible — growth that could contribute to the type of revenue the county would need, the Appeal previously reported.

"The natural features that lend to the pleasant aspects of the countryside and country life we enjoy come at a cost. They severely restrict the ability of the county to attract economic development and generate revenue for county services," Smith wrote. "More than 68% of Sutter County's land mass is in either a federal or state designated flood zone, where the cost of raising buildings to a safe elevation is often too great to encourage development. No other California county is handicapped by federal and state flood plain policy to such an extent. (Yolo County, the county with the next highest percentage of its land in a flood zone, is at about half of Sutter County's percentage)."

Ziegenmeyer said he respected the people's ultimate decision not to approve the measure.

"I respect the people's vote. I voted yes because I personally knew what I would have done with the money. I know it would have kept my family safe," Ziegenmeyer said. "... I spoke with past fire chiefs and past supervisors to really dig deep on this whole measure. I wanted to get their opinions too. You had a lot of chiefs and supervisors supporting this."

Ziegenmeyer also wanted to thank the citizens committee that was formed and ultimately recommended the measure.

"I'm really grateful for the citizens committee," Ziegenmeyer said. "They spent a lot of hours going through the budgets and the meetings. They did their due diligence. It's important to have a citizens committee to ask all the questions. ... They saw the benefits were worth the extra penny."

Overall, Ziegenmeyer said he looked forward to working with the Yuba City City Council and other supervisors to look for ways to help the county.

"I just hope to continue the relationship with the city and really work together. And take them up on their offer to help us through these tough times," he said.

Along with a nearly final update on the fate of Measure A, Friday's election results also showed that Greg Quilty pulled ahead of Shari Tucker in a close race for Yuba City Unified School District Board Trustee Area 5. As of Friday's update, Quilty was leading Tucker with 732 votes to Tucker's 720.

While the winning candidates for nearly every other contested race in Sutter County remained relatively the same, the Sutter Union High School Board saw a three-way tie for one of three seats that were up for vote on the board. As of Friday's update, Larry Munger had 2,008 votes, Allen Jaynes had 1,460 votes, and both Jill Wilhelm and Carl Pratt had 1,262 votes.