Officials claim misinformation being spread on recall petition

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Menifee city officials have expressed concern about what they believe is misinformation and a lack of understanding about tax Measure DD in light of a recall petition being circulated around town.

Mayor Neil Winter told Menifee 24/7 he was given false information about the measure last month by a woman collecting signatures in front of the Target store in Countryside Marketplace. Two other residents contacted Menifee 24/7 with the same complaint, and Mayor Pro Tem Lesa Sobek expressed concern over misunderstandings about what she called a vital funding source.

Measure DD was passed by Menifee voters in November 2016, receiving more than 68 percent of the votes. It created a 1 percent sales tax increase designed to provide increased funding for public safety, such as police and fire protection, and road improvements. The City has received less than half a year’s worth of the additional funding, but projections are that Measure DD could generate $7 million or more annually.

At the time Measure DD was put on the ballot, Menifee had gone five years without its share of vehicle license fee funding, which nearly all other California cities received, because of legislation signed by Gov. Brown in 2011. The VLF funding was restored last May – not retroactively – giving Menifee an estimated $5-6 million in funds it had been without.

Citing the restoration of the VLF fees, a petition to place a recall of Measure DD on the ballot was initiated by resident John Smelser and former Mayor Scott Mann – who voted to approve the ballot measure before losing his bid for re-election in November 2016. Mann now contends that because of the restoration of VLF fees, Measure DD funds are no longer necessary.

The problem is, some residents being approached by those collecting petitions apparently are not being given correct information when asked to sign the petition.

In order to verify these complaints, a Menifee 24/7 reporter approached the same woman collecting signatures in front of Target one day in December. When asked the reason for the recall effort of Measure DD, the woman – who did not give her name – said it was because "the people never had a chance to vote on it." When told that was not true, the woman appeared to get very nervous and said she meant to refer to the recent gas tax increase.

Told the gas tax is a state tax and a different issue, the woman said she was "tired and kind of confused. I’ve been out here all day and I’m getting ready to leave." She admitted that she was actually in favor of continuing Measure DD to improve public safety but was collecting signatures against it because she was being paid by Smelser to do so.

Winter told Menifee 24/7 he asked a man collecting signatures at another location to explain what Measure DD was and why it should be recalled. He said the man could not do so.

A Citizen’s Oversight Committee formed to help monitor Measure DD funds has not had sufficient time to assess ongoing need for the funds, Winter said. He also said it is too early to consider removing a tax measure that has increased the City budget for police services as well as help fund the upcoming Scott Road interchange project.

"I use this analogy," Winter said. "You buy a television for $500. The city gets a whopping $5 out of that $500. We can use that for fire, police, fixing the roads, making the city safer. We have to maintain our course on that through 2018, even though there’s elements out there who want to strip that away.

"We can’t afford that yet. We can’t afford to think about going backwards just one year after all this took place. It took us five years to get the VLF fees back. We lost like $30 million. We need all these funds so we can do all the things people say they want us to do."

Winter said city officials will provide an accounting of the expenditure of Measure DD funds very soon to help residents understand what they have paid for and what needs remain. Although the City last year added eight police positions to its contract with the Sheriff’s Department, Menifee is still well below the standard for police protection in a city its size.

Winter disputes the critics’ claim that receiving both Measure DD funds and VLF funding is "double dipping."

"In the sense of city government, it’s impossible for us to double dip," Winter said. "That $14 million (Measure DD funds and VLF fees combined) is required to run everything, not run one thing twice. There’s no way we could do that, and no way we could survive an audit by doing that.

"In all honesty, I probably would’ve said the same thing as these people three years ago, because I didn’t know anything. If you’re not living and breathing city government, it’s easy to make statements like that."

Winter said the first year of Measure DD funds, when all are collected, will contribute $2 million toward the $57 million Scott Road Interchange project. Even if no additional City funds are needed to supplement existing funding and $15 million pledged by the County for the project, there are many other road improvements still needed, he said.

"The new Scott Road bridge will help create another big stream of revenue," Winter said, referring to the anticipated arrival of more developers when the south portion of the city is better accessed. "Once we get Scott Road developed, people will say, ‘You’re going to get more tax money because of that.’ Well yeah, but that money will be needed to pay for fire, roads, and police for an area where we don’t have anything now."

Winter urged residents to pay close attention to updated financial information regarding Measure DD as it is released and consider attending City Council meetings to be informed on the issue.