'West Sac says "yes"'
Voters approve tax for levee work
Copyright News-Ledger, July 18, 2007
By Steve Marschke
News-Ledger Editor
West Sacramento property owners voted overwhelmingly to tax themselves and raise over $20 million to help upgrade the city’s levees, in a mail-in ballot that closed on July 10. The results were announced at a special meeting of the West Sacramento Flood Control Agency on Monday at city hall.
“70.5 percent of the ballots were in favor of the assessment district,” reported Shanna Zuspan of the city redevelopment agency. “29.5 percent were opposed to the assessment district.”
Zuspan said that 33.8 percent of the 5,974 ballots city-wide were turned in.
The vote is good news to the West Sacramento Flood Control Agency, represented by chairman Bill Denton and members Bill Kristoff and Kent Lang on Monday.
Kristoff, who is also a local city council member, called it a historic moment.
“I’ve been on the council now for 22 years,” he said. “This is one of the most important votes I can remember.”
City staffers Kryss Rankin, Janet Chapin, Helen Kanowsky & Sarah Kotko were among those counting the votes in public, in the city council chambers, beginning last Wednesday (July 11, 2007)
News-Ledger photo
Kristoff also said he was pleased that the city’s commercial property owners didn’t win the ballot effort by themselves against a “reluctant” population of homeowners. Instead, both groups supported the assessment, said Kristoff.
“We wanted to see if the commercial votes really tipped the balance,” said Kristoff. “Amazingly enough, it was just about the same split, 70-30. The average homeowner, the average resident – they ‘got it’.”
The new tax will start with December’s tax rolls, and a lot of homeowners will find themselves paying just under or just over about a hundred dollars a year. The assessment is expected to raise over $20 million, and a like amount is expected to come from a fee on new development.
The two new local taxes will raise about $42 million towards a levee improvement program priced at about $400 million. State and federal monies will be courted to make up the rest of the project.
“We wanted to get it done and get it done early so we can get to the front of the line (for that money),” said Mayor Christopher Cabaldon. “There is no federal money that’s available right now, but we know there will be.”
Cabaldon said that there may be earthmovers at work on the levees as early as this summer. The goal is a 200-year level of flood protection – or a level of risk equivalent to a one-in-200 chance of major flooding in any given year.
“The $400 million buys for West Sacramento an ‘urban’ level of protection,” said Cabaldon. “It’s about the highest level you can achieve in the Sacramento Valley.”
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