Alameda County Board of Supervisors Place Transportation Tax Measure on November Ballot

The Alameda County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to place on the November ballot a transportation sales tax increase measure that failed by a small number of votes two years ago.
 
Proponents say the tax hike, which needs a two-thirds majority for approval, would generate nearly $8 billion for important transportation improvements over the next 30 years, stimulate $20 billion of economic activity in the region and create nearly 150,000 jobs.
 
Alameda County voters approved a half-cent sales tax measure in 1986 that helps pay for transportation and transit projects in the county. In 2000, county voters approved extending the tax for another 20 years, to 2022. But county leaders and transportation officials want to increase the tax by another half cent and extend it to 2045 because more money is needed to help pay operating costs for the transportation and transit projects that the tax has helped fund, according to Tess Lengyel, the deputy director of planning and policy for the Alameda County Transportation Commission.
 
Measure B in 2012 received 66.53 percent of the vote but fell about 721 votes short of the two-thirds majority needed for approval, Lengyel said. In order to address the concerns of those who voted against the 2012 measure, the measure that will appear on the ballot on Nov. 4 has been tweaked to include an expiration date and have strict accountability measures to ensure that the money raised by the tax is spent on approved projects, she said.
 
Alameda County Supervisor Scott Haggerty, who chairs the Transportation Commission, said the money raised by the tax "will decrease traffic congestion and improve transportation service," including BART and AC Transit bus service.

Haggerty said funds will also be spent on bike and pedestrian paths and community development projects. AC Transit Director Elsa Ortiz said the funds raised by the tax would provide $43 million a year for bus service and an additional $9 million annually for paratransit services for seniors and disabled people.
 
Haggerty said 72 percent of respondents in a poll conducted by county and transportation officials said they are in favor of the sales tax spending plan that will be on the November ballot.

—By Bay City News