To: Sonoma County Board of Supervisors
Department or Agency Name(s): County Clerk-Recorder-Assessor; County Counsel
Staff Name and Phone Number: Deva Marie Proto, (707) 565-1877; Petra Bruggisser, (707) 565-2421
Vote Requirement: Majority
Supervisorial District(s): Countywide
Title:
Title
Adopt a Resolution submitting the Sonoma County Child Care and Children’s Health Initiative and Sales Tax Petition to the Voters of Sonoma County
End
Recommended Action:
Recommended action
A) Adopt a Resolution submitting the Sonoma County Child Care and Children’s Health Initiative and Sales Tax Petition to the Voters of Sonoma County at the November 5, 2024, Presidential General Election.
B) Comment on the proposed Sonoma County Child Care and Children’s Health Initiative and Sales Tax, and authorize the Chair of the Board to send a letter in support of, or opposition, to the proposed Initiative.
end
Executive Summary:
At the January 9, 2024, Board meeting, your Board accepted the certificate of sufficiency brought by the Registrar of Voters after the Registrar of Voters determined that the proponents of the proposed Sonoma County Child Care and Children’s Health Initiative and Sales Tax Petition submitted the requisite number of signatures.
Your Board further directed the Registrar of Voters to bring forward a Resolution to place the proposed Sonoma County Child Care and Children’s Health Initiative and Sales Tax Petition on the November 5, 2024, Presidential General Election.
The Registrar of Voters now brings the attached Resolution to your Board for approval, which will place the proposed Initiative on the November 5, 2024, Presidential General Election.
This item also provides the Board with the opportunity to comment on, and possibly take a position on, the Initiative, and authorize the Chair of the Board to send a letter in support of, or opposition, to the proposed Initiative.
Discussion:
On June 2, 2023, proponents of a quarter-cent transactions and use tax (a.k.a. sales tax) filed with the Sonoma County Registrar of Voters Office (ROV) a notice of intention to circulate an initiative petition to fund (1) child care, preschool and early childhood education for low- and middle-income children and families in Sonoma County and (2) the local children’s health care safety net.
Proponents published the ballot title, summary and notice of intention to circulate the “Sonoma County Child Care and Children’s Health Initiative and Sales Tax”, in a newspaper of
general circulation on June 15, 2023.
On December 7, 2023, the proponents filed at the ROV what they estimated to be 28,043 signatures on 1,244 sections. ROV staff carefully reviewed and entered each petition section and the number of signatures it contained into the County’s election management system (DFM Associates’ EIMS). Utilizing EIMS to randomly generate a sample of 841 signatures to check (three percent of the total filed signatures), the ROV found 690 of the 841 signatures to be valid and 151 invalid. There were no duplicate signatures in the sample. The election management system estimated that, based on the percentage of signatures found to be valid in the random sample, approximately 23,007 of all the signatures at large were valid, or 116.5 percent of the required number of 19,746 signatures (the required number of signatures was derived by taking ten percent of 197,454 - which was the number of voters in Sonoma County who voted for governor in the November 8, 2022, General Election). Since this number was greater than 110 percent, the petition was deemed sufficient.
The ROV certified the results of the examination of the petition signatures to the Board on January 9, 2024. The Board accepted the certificate of sufficiency, and directed the ROV to bring forward a Resolution to place the proposed Sonoma County Child Care and Children’s Health Initiative and Sales Tax Petition on the November 5, 2024, Presidential General Election, pursuant to Elections Code section 9118.
The Registrar of Voters now brings the attached Resolution to your Board for approval, which will place the proposed Initiative on the November 5, 2024, Presidential General Election.
Your Board may also comment on the proposed Initiative and consider taking a position on the proposed Initiative, and authorize the Board of the Chair to send a letter in support of, or opposition to, the Initiative.
Strategic Plan:
N/A
Racial Equity:
N/A
Was this item identified as an opportunity to apply the Racial Equity Toolkit?
No
Prior Board Actions:
On January 9, 2024, the Board accepted the certificate of sufficiency for the Sonoma County Child Care and Children’s Health Initiative and submitted the ordinance, without altercations, to the voters.
Fiscal Summary
|
Expenditures |
FY23-24 Adopted |
FY24-25 Projected |
FY25-26 Projected |
|
Budgeted Expenses |
|
|
|
|
Additional Appropriation Requested |
|
|
|
|
Total Expenditures |
|
|
|
|
Funding Sources |
|
|
|
|
General Fund/WA GF |
|
|
|
|
State/Federal |
|
|
|
|
Fees/Other |
|
|
|
|
Use of Fund Balance |
|
|
|
|
General Fund Contingencies |
|
|
|
|
Total Sources |
|
|
|
Narrative Explanation of Fiscal Impacts:
The current estimated cost to place the proposed measure on the November 5, 2024, ballot ranges from $375,441 to $1,126,324 ($1.25 to $3.75 per voter). This cost would decrease as more items are added to the November ballot, and election costs shared across jurisdictions.
The November 5, 2024 Presidential General Election will be budgeted for as part of the regular 2024-2025 budget development process, and will include appropriations to cover the cost of placing a countywide measure on the ballot
|
Staffing Impacts: |
|
|
|
|
Position Title (Payroll Classification) |
Monthly Salary Range (A-I Step) |
Additions (Number) |
Deletions (Number) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Narrative Explanation of Staffing Impacts (If Required):
N/A
Attachments:
Resolution placing the proposed Initiative on the November 5, 2024, Presidential General Election.
Related Items “On File” with the Clerk of the Board:
N/A