WATSONVILLE—The half-cent sales tax that significantly boosted Watsonville’s public safety budget for seven years will return to voters next year.
When it will appear on the ballot, however, is still up for debate.
Watsonville’s City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved an updated version of the public safety tax approved by voters in 2014 — then called Measure G — but clashed deep into the night while trying to determine in which election the city should put forth the measure.
Councilwoman Ari Parker argued strongly it should appear on the November ballot, which will include what is expected to be a hotly-contested presidential election that will see increased voter turnout.
Parker also pushed for November to avoid clashes with other county- and state-wide measures in March, including a $274.1 million bond recently approved by Cabrillo College.
“I don’t see that [March] is the best time to run this,” Parker said. “November is a slam-dunk pass. March is a fail, and I don’t want this to fail. I don’t even want this to get close to a fail.”
Parker motioned for the tax to be approved with a November 2020 run date, but that motion failed 4-3 with Mayor Francisco Estrada and council members Aurelio Gonzalez, Felipe Hernandez and Lowell Hurst dissenting.
City Manager Matt Huffaker said the council in its early-November meeting will have a chance to choose between March or November. Consultant Godbe Research will also present more data at that meeting to give the council a better look at both opinions, according to city staff.
“Tonight, [the date] wasn’t intended to be the focus, it was intended to be the ordinance and the language of the ordinance,” Huffaker said.
The approved sales tax ordinance is nearly a carbon copy of Measure G, which will sunset in December 2021.
That measure generated roughly $4,000,000 of funding for the city’s police and fire departments per year. With that cash, the city was able to hire 21 full-time employees (eight for Watsonville Fire and 11 for Watsonville Police), purchase new equipment, tools and tech and replace several aging vehicles in its fleet of patrol cars and fire engines.
The additional dollars also funded a pair of youth prevention programs.
The new ordinance, however, will give 8 percent of the sales tax to the Parks & Community Services Department after voters voiced support for the expansion of safe spaces for young people, according to city staff.
Police will receive 54 percent of sales tax, and fire will receive the remaining 38 percent.
The new ordinance also gives the City the ability to use the funds for possible future expansion of fire and police department operations as the community continues to grow. An independent third-party study will be conducted every decade — the first will be done by July of next year — to determine if expansion or changes in service are needed.
“Our hope is going forward with this measure that we can have a more informed data-driven approach to this big question about how will we need to grow over time to make sure we continue to meet our community’s needs,” Huffaker said.
The new measure would need a two-thirds vote, and, if passed, would stay in place until repealed.
Since Measure G passed crime rates and gang activity in Watsonville are at their lowest in more than a decade, according to city staff.
Watsonville Police officer Eli Uretsky, also representing the Watsonville Police Officers Association, said Measure G has been “paramount” in keeping the community safe.
“It’s done great things for the police department,” Uretsky said. “We look forward as an association on educating the community and reminding people on the great things that were accomplished through Measure G. Chief [David] Honda has done a great job, but I don’t know if even he could have pulled off some of the statistics we did if we didn’t have Measure G.”
