Council votes to 'show faith in voters' to uphold Measure DD

 

 By Doug Spoon, Editor

A ballot measure designed to repeal the Measure DD 1 percent sales tax in Menifee has qualified for the November ballot, but there will not be an opposing ballot measure to support Measure DD after all.

The second Measure DD ballot measure was originally made public on June 17, when the Menifee City Council voted 4-1 to place a measure on the ballot affirming the importance of Measure DD in an effort to negate the recall measure. The action was pending final approval of the ballot measure language at an upcoming meeting.

However, after further consideration, the council voted 3-2 at its July 15 meeting not to place the affirmation measure on the ballot.

Mayor Bill Zimmerman, who voted against the affirmation measure at the June 17 meeting, said at the July 15 meeting that he believed the placement of an opposing measure would be confusing to voters. He said he had faith that voters recognized the value of Measure DD and would vote against the repeal measure without having to confuse the issue with two ballot measures.

 “If Measure DD has delivered, I believe it can stand on its own merits,” Zimmerman said. “I think in the past, council members placed language on the ballot that people felt were deceitful. That’s when the level of trust was low.

“I’m proud of this City Council. I believe the voters trust in us, they know we have a Measure DD oversight committee, and we have delivered with a measure that has made Menifee safer.”

Zimmerman said he believed the ballot language prepared by staff for the affirmation measure was too wordy and that voters wouldn’t bother to wade through the language, might be confused by it, and wouldn’t vote at all on the measure. The proposed language was as follows:

“Shall an ordinance to continue the existing voter-approved locally controlled 1¢ sales tax providing $11 million annually to maintain 911 emergency medical and disaster/preparedness response, paramedic/firefighting equipment, neighborhood police patrols, street/road repairs, and other general services until ended by voters, with funding that cannot be taken by the state, all funds for the City of Menifee, and with no increase in taxes, be adopted?”

Council members Dean Deines and Matt Liesemeyer agreed.

“Plain English would’ve been better,” Deines said. “I’m a little leery about putting it on the ballot.”

 “Listening to it tonight, I’m not in favor of this,” Liesemeyer said. “It’s confusing. That’s a lot of words that people will read past. I’m not in favor of language that just confuses the issue. Let’s have some faith in the voters to do the right thing and vote against the repeal measure.”

According to a staff presentation regarding the measure, an outside consultant conducting a survey of 500 residents concluded that a majority of people support the public safety and infrastructure improvements made possible by Measure DD. The consultant recommended the affirmation measure anyway. If both measures had made the ballot and both passed, the one with the largest margin of victory would be enacted.

The measure that will ask Menifee residents to repeal Measure DD was co-authored by local resident John Smelser, who has tried twice before to get repeal measures on the ballot. This time he met all qualifications, including collecting more than 2,700 signatures on a recall petition.

Measure DD was approved by 68 percent of voters as a funding source to supplement city funds for road improvement and especially public safety. City documents report that it generates about $11 million per year. Much of that funding was used to create Menifee’s own police department, which city officials contend was needed because of more costly contract numbers from the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department.

At the time, promoters of Measure DD cited the city’s loss of vehicle license fee revenue, which  amounted to a loss of $21 million to the city because of Gov. Jerry Brown’s removal of those fees from Menifee and other newly incorporated cities for a five-year period. After Brown reinstated the VLF fees to Menifee in 2017, critics of Measure DD began arguing that the extra sales tax was no longer necessary.

Some have argued on social media that Menifee has since been “double dipping”. City officials countered by stating that surrounding cities including Murrieta, Temecula, Wildomar, and Hemet – all of which also receive VLF fees – have similar separate taxes because of the need for extra services.

Zimmerman and Liesemeyer said they believed the city’s plan to further educate the public on the importance of Measure DD is a good one, and preferable to an opposing ballot measure. According to a staff report, a repeal of Measure DD would have many negative effects, including the following:

-- A loss of 17 percent of the overall City budget.

-- A loss of 29 percent of the budget for the Menifee Police Department (about a $4.3 million reduction); 25 percent of the Fire Department budget; 33 percent of the code enforcement budget; and 13 percent of the Capital Improvement Project (road improvements) budget.

-- A loss of 31 patrol officers on the police force, equating to 174 less patrol hours per day; possible closure of the police substation in Cherry Hills Plaza; and a lack of funds to pay the City’s share of the police dispatch agreement with the City of Murrieta.

-- The loss of the Fire Department’s medic squad, which was added to the new Fire Station 7 in the Sun City community two years ago, and the five personnel dedicated to it.

Greg August made a substitute motion, seconded by Lesa Sobek, to approve the affirmation ballot. That motion failed, 3-2. That was followed by a motion by Zimmerman to table the item, effectively killing the affirmation ballot proposal. It was seconded by Liesemeyer. That motion passed 3-2, with August and Sobek voting against it.