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| Sales tax gets green light from council |
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| Written by John Saiz | Patterson Irrigator | |
| Saturday, 05 July 2008 | |
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A countywide half-percent sales tax increase won support from the Patterson City Council on Tuesday with a 4-0 vote. The hike is designed to generate $700 million over 20 years for transportation projects throughout the county. Voters will be asked to approve the tax in November. Not all council members were sold on the measure, however. Councilman Sam Cuellar abstained from the vote after raising worries that a specific route connecting Highway 99 to Interstate 5 had not been identified. “I thought we’d do this before it got to the ballot,” Cuellar said. Without a specified route, he said, he could not gauge the tax’s possible benefits for the proposed PCCP West Park LLC industrial center in Crows Landing. “The route must not help West Park,” Cuellar said. Cuellar also feared the Stanislaus Council of Government’s policy board would have too much control over the money. The policy board can change the list of applicable projects annually with a two-thirds vote, according to the plan. The StanCOG policy board consists of 16 people: five Stanislaus County supervisors and a representative from each city, except Modesto, which has three representatives. Patterson Mayor Becky Campo is the city’s representative on the board. “What we want and what we get might be two different things in the end,” Cuellar said. As the plan stands, half of the tax money — $350 million — would go to the county and its nine cities for local transportation projects. Patterson is slated to get almost 4 percent, an estimated $13.7 million. The council has dedicated almost $6.5 million to rebuilding Patterson streets. Other projects include $200,000 for a traffic signal at M Street and Highway 33, $3.2 million to resurface streets and $650,000 to widen Sperry Avenue between Ward Avenue and Highway 33. The $350 million would be divvied up based on population and generated sales tax. Modesto would receive the most money, almost $137.6 million, followed by the county, which would receive $77.6 million, and Turlock at $48.2 million. Another $343 million would go to regional projects, including $116.67 million to widen roads that connect Highway 99 to I-5, as well as money for interchanges. The other regional projects would be a $116.67 million east-west connector from Dale Road to east of Oakdale, $31 million in improvements to the Mitchell and Service roads Highway 99 interchange, and $78.66 million worth of work to Highway 132. About $7 million, 1 percent of the total tax, would go to administrative costs. StanCOG would oversee the tax money. Cuellar said he supported the local portion of the tax, but not the regional component. “Maybe I just should have (voted no),” Cuellar said. StanCOG ran a similar tax past voters in 2006 called Measure K. It failed to garner the 67 percent of voter approval needed to pass. Councilwoman Annette Smith worried this year’s could have the same results. “Last time, we failed,” she said, “and last time, I supported it.” She mentioned a poll that gauged the public’s willingness to raise its taxes. The results have not been released. Smith said she became aware of the poll after Tuesday’s board of supervisors meeting, during which the board voted 4-1 in favor of the tax spending plan. The lone “no” vote came from Dick Monteith, who said he had not been given access to the poll. Smith said she would have liked to see the survey, too, and worried that it is being kept private. StanCOG had nothing to do with assembling the poll, said Vince Harris, the agency’s CEO, so it could not provide a copy. He told the council the survey was commissioned by a private sector agent and he did not know its contents. The StanCOG policy board opted not to do its own poll, Harris said, because members thought getting the support of local jurisdictions would indicate community support. Smith still backed the tax, she said, mainly because it would allow the county to get more state transportation funding. The state generally prefers to dole out transportation money to “self-help” counties, which have such taxes. “Self help, I can absolutely stand behind that,” Smith said. To reach John Saiz at the Irrigator, call 892-6187 or e-mail him at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
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