No on Measure B 2016

Note: Measure B failed in the November 2016 election. This information is being retained here because it not only summarizes our opposition to that measure, but what we’d like to see in future transit funding.

STAR is opposed to the Measure B, a sales tax measure that will be on the county ballot in November. The 30-year sales tax measure if being sold as a fix-it-first road maintenance solution (which we support) and congestion relief (which we do not support, as that really means more capacity for cars and therefore more cars on the road), but a close reading of the project list (Transportation Expenditure Plan) and enabling language shows the measure to really be about building new things instead of taking care of what we have. On this page and in our blog posts, we will analyze the measure step by step, and we hope that you will join us in recognizing that this measure is the wrong solution to our transportation needs.

STAR’s Measure B committee developed arguments against the measure and in rebuttal to the argument provided by the measure proponents. These were not selected for the ballot pamphlet, but they are a great summary of our concerns. Links to copies of the official arguments and rebuttals follow ours.

STAR’s Argument Against Measure B

While Sacramento needs funding for transportation, Measure B is not the solution:

1. Measure B locks Sacramento County into higher taxes and the wrong transportation expenditures for 30 years.

2. Measure B is a half cent tax increase, which would raise the sales tax to 8.5 – 9% in Sacramento County. In addition to existing gasoline taxes, voters have already approved Measure A for Regional Transit, road and highway construction and maintenance. Give Measure A a chance to fulfill its promises, before raising our sales tax for 30 years.

3. Measure B does not guarantee potholes will be filled or roads repaved. Measure B only commits funding for 5 years to Fix it First street, road, and bridge maintenance, and even this provision can be waived.  For the remaining 25 years of Measure B’s life, it does not require that money be spent on repairing deteriorating roads and bridges.

4. Measure B won’t solve the very serious problems facing Sacramento Regional Transit (RT). RT has cut bus routes, raised fares, eliminated transfers, and mismanaged finances and operations. RT is losing riders because most of RT’s buses do not run frequently or late enough to meet people’s needs.  While Measure B focuses on expanding light rail lines, it does nothing to fix RT’s fundamental problems.

5. Measure B will not provide the traffic relief that Sacramento needs. Real traffic relief requires frequent, reliable, and affordable transit that gets people out of their cars and where they need to go.  Instead Measure B allocates most of its money to road and highway expansion, which would induce more traffic, congestion, and air pollution.  

Sacramento’s transportation system is getting worse and Measure B doesn’t fix it. Vote NO!

STAR’s Rebuttal to Argument For Measure B

Roads should be fixed. However, Measure B is carefully written by politicians so they don’t have to fix anything after 5 years. Sacramento’s roads are in poor condition because Measure A has been spent mostly on new construction while maintenance has been deferred. Measure B will be more of the same. The fix-it-first lasts for only five years out of 30, and can be waived by a 2/3 vote.

Though Measure B allocates 26% to transit, RT will still have the smallest tax allocation of any major city.  Measure B does not do enough to improve the frequency, span, and connectivity of bus service to reverse the loss of ridership due to service cuts. Most of the 26%  is for light rail car replacement (which is needed), and extensions of light rail to the airport and Elk Grove.   An easy solution to airport service already exists – Yolobus. Increasing Yolobus frequency from one hour to 15 minutes would serve riders at a far lower cost than light rail extension. Light rail service to the airport is a trophy project for politicians, not for riders.

Although proponents emphasize fix-it-first and transit, the actual measure includes hundreds of millions for road expansion projects, the Capital Southeast Connector and the Capital City Freeway, as well as many new freeway interchanges which induce more traffic and greenhouse gases.

Ballot Arguments and Rebuttals (extracted fromdocuments submitted to the county registrar, however, there may be typos, and will certainly be formatting differences from the official ballot pamphlet)

Sacramento Transit Authority’s Measure B Transportation Expenditure Plan, the ballot measure. The measure’s text is followed by a list of projects, some of them very specific and others rather vague.