Local Elections Update:
Final Results – Voters Pass 58 Percent of Local Tax and Bond Measures

Voters around the state approved 74 of 128 local non-school tax and bond measures on November 7, or 58 percent, including just over half of the sales tax hikes and most parcel tax levies.

Local school construction bond measures fared much better, with 55 of 70 proposals (over 78%) winning approval.

In all, almost 65 percent, or 131 of 202 local government and school district measures met with voter approval, according to final certified results that were due December 5.

Sales Taxes: 20 of 38 are approved. With Tulare County's 0.5% transportation tax winning by 363 votes (67.2%) out of 67,000 cast, 20 local sales tax increases were approved of 38 on ballots around the state.

Also squeaking by was the 0.5% hike in Arroyo Grande (San Luis Obispo County), winning with only 50.09% of the vote in final official returns reported November 29. As a general tax, it needed only a majority vote. Special taxes, defined as those that earmark proceeds for such things as transportation, require two-thirds, or 66.67% approval.

Support for measures ranged from a high of 81% for a 0.5% increase for street improvements in Nevada City to a low of 19.6% for a quarter-cent (0.25%) sales tax in Sacramento County, mostly to help finance a new arena for the Maloof family’s Sacramento Kings.

Five countywide transportation sales tax measures passed; six were rejected, including the rail transit tax proposal in the transportation district encompassing Marin and Sonoma counties.

School Bonds. Of the 70 local school bond measures, proposing about $8.4 billion in financing, 55 were approved. About $6.5 billion in school bonds will require higher property taxes as a result of these elections. Listed as too close to call in Caltaxletter’s December 1 report, Turlock High School's $7.775 million bond passed with 55.5% of the vote. Yuba Community College District's $190 million bond won with 56.6% of the vote.

Two of the four school district parcel taxes were approved.

Utility User Taxes. Seven of eight measures on ballots were approved, including a reduction in Portola Valley. A reduction in Compton was coupled with an expansion of the levy to tax wireless phone bills. Most of the measures continue existing taxes, approving new ordinances that are in compliance with federal repeal of the excise tax on long-distance calls, which had been imposed to help finance the Spanish-American War. Of the two UUT measures that sought to increase the tax, voters rejected a measure in Fremont (Alameda County), but passed – just barely – Menlo Park’s 3.5% UUT (2.5% commercial) in San Mateo County. It squeaked by with 50.3% of the vote.

Parcel Taxes: Thirty-two the 47 non-school parcel taxes on ballots around the state were approved, including two that had been too close to call. All 14 parcel taxes in upscale Marin County, mostly for paramedic services, passed. Without Marin County’s results, skewing the statewide picture, 18 were approved and 15 failed.

Santa Monica's $84 parcel tax for clean beaches was a cliff-hanger, passing with 67.02% of the vote. In San Diego County, the Rincon Ranch Community Service District's parcel tax to repair rural roads was approved without a vote to spare, getting exactly two-thirds, or 66.67% of the vote.

Hotel Taxes: Nine of 17 transient occupancy tax measures were approved.

Local Bonds. Of 13 local non-school bonds on ballots, only three were approved, amounting to $37.5 million. The biggest bond, $1 billion for housing in Los Angeles, was among the losers. Unlike local school bonds, which generally need just 55 percent voter approval, non-school bonds require two-thirds approval.

Other Measures. San Francisco voters rejected a parking tax while business license taxes were approved in two cities. Watsonville voters barely approved a limit on property taxes that can be used to fund city employee pensions. In Richmond, voters rejected a scheme to impose an inventory tax-business license tax measure that targeted refineries.

(Following is a listing of measures by tax and county.)

NOVEMBER 7, 2006 GENERAL ELECTION
SALES TAX MEASURES
County	Jurisdiction	Rate Increase	Purpose	Vote Needed	Result	% Yes
Amador	Amador County	0.25%	Fire	Two-Thirds	Failed	48.74%
Amador	Amador County	0.50%	Transportation	Two-Thirds	Failed	61.39%
Colusa	Williams	0.50%	General	Majority	Passed	54.20%
Contra Costa	Pinole	0.50%	General	Majority	Passed	59.65%
Fresno	Fresno County	0.50%	Transportation	Two-Thirds	Passed	77.70%
Kern	Kern County Measure I	0.50%	Transportation	Two-Thirds	Failed	56.44%
Kern	Delano	0.50%	Police & Fire	Two-Thirds	Failed	52.08%
Lake	Clearlake	0.50%	General	Majority	Failed	37.10%
Los Angeles	Inglewood	0.50%	General	Majority	Passed	51.99%
Madera	Madera County	0.50%	Transportation	Two-Thirds	Passed	73.10%
Marin-Sonoma	2-county transit district	0.25%	Transit	Two-Thirds	Failed	65.30%
Merced	Merced County	0.50%	Transportation	Two-Thirds	Failed	60.87%
Monterey	Del Rey Oaks	1.00%	General	Majority	Passed	56.60%
Nevada	Grass Valley	0.50%	Transportation	Two-Thirds	Failed	57.50%
Nevada	Nevada City	0.50%	Streets	Two-Thirds	Passed	80.90%
Orange	Orange County	0.50%	Transportation	Two-Thirds	Passed	69.70%
Riverside	Cathedral City	0.75%	General	Majority	Failed	33.49%
San Benito	Hollister	1.00%	General	Majority	Failed	47.50%
Sacramento	Sacramento County	0.25%	General	Majority	Failed	19.62%
San Bernardino	Needles	0.25%	Utility enterprise	Two-Thirds	Failed	59.20%
San Bernardino	City of San Bernardino	0.25%	Public safety	Majority	Passed	67.10%
San Diego	City of Vista	0.50%	General	Majority	Passed	53.97%
San Joaquin	San Joaquin County	0.50%	Transportation	Two-Thirds	Passed	77.94%
San Joaquin	Lodi	0.25%	Fire Facilities	Two-Thirds	Failed	43.85%
San Joaquin	Manteca	0.50%	Public safety	Two-Thirds	Passed	70.03%
San Luis Obispo	Pismo Beach	0.50%	General	Majority	Failed	49.12%
San Luis Obispo	City of San Luis Obispo	0.50%	General	Majority	Passed	64.77%
San Luis Obispo	Arroyo Grande	0.50%	General	Majority	Passed	50.09%
San Luis Obispo	Morro Bay	0.50%	General	Majority	Passed	65.00%
San Luis Obispo	Grover Beach	0.50%	General	Majority	Passed	55.72%
San Mateo	San Mateo County	1/8th%	Park & Recreation	Two-Thirds	Failed	55.40%
Santa Barbara	Santa Barbara County	0.75%	Transportation	Two-Thirds	Failed	54.47%
Santa Cruz	City of Santa Cruz	0.50%	General	Majority	Passed	58.04%
Santa Cruz	Watsonville	0.25%	General	Majority	Passed	50.97%
Sonoma	Sonoma County Open Space Authority	0.25%	Open space	Two-Thirds	Passed	75.70%
Stanislaus	Stanislaus County	0.50%	Transportation	Two-Thirds	Failed	57.92%
Tulare	Tulare County	0.50%	Transportation	Two-Thirds	Passed	67.23%
Ventura	City of Ventura	0.25%	Public safety	Two-Thirds	Failed	61.95%

WATER TAX MEASURE
County	Jurisdiction	Increase	Purpose	Vote Needed	Result	% Yes
Modoc	Altura	$1	Mosquito abatement	Two-Thirds	Passed	74.00%

INVENTORY TAX MEASURE
County	Jurisdiction	Increase	Purpose	Vote Needed	Result	% Yes
Contra Costa	Richmond 1/8th of 1 percent of value of certain resource inventory and other taxes for other business	1/8th%	General	Majority	Failed	42.32%

PARCEL TAX MEASURES (NON-SCHOOL)
County	Jurisdiction	Amount	Purpose	Result	% Yes
Butte	City of Biggs	$70	Hospital District	Passed	77.58%
Butte	City of Gridley	$70	Hospital District	Passed	77.17%
Butte	County of Butte	$70	Hospital District	Passed	74.94%
Contra Costa	Lafayette	$64	Police	Failed	60.60%
Contra Costa	Clayton CSD	$16.39/residential	Park funding	Passed	70.59%
El Dorado	Springfield Meadows CSD	$150	Infrastructure	Failed	49.00%
El Dorado	Cameron Estates CSD	$950/residential $4,000/commercial	Roads	Failed	33.70%
Kern	North Edwards Water District	$50	Special	Failed	44.72%
Kern	California City	$105		Failed	48.64%
Lake	Butler-Keys CSD	$45	Streets	Failed	54.70%
Lassen	West Patton Village CSD	$213/residential $319/commercial	Fire Services	Failed	63.21%
Lassen	Lake Forest FPD	$100	Fire Services	Passed	70.69%
Los Angeles	Santa Monica	$84	Clean beaches	Passed	67.02%
Los Angeles	San Marino		Public safety	Passed	70.70%
Marin	Mill Valley	$195/residential	Storm drains	Passed	76.21%
Marin	San Rafael	$24	Paramedics	Passed	78.45%
Marin	Paradise Ranch Estates (Inverness Ridge)	$275	Roads	Passed	74.79%
Marin	San Anselmo	$48	Paramedics	Passed	77.83%
Marin	Sleepy Hollow FPD	$48	Paramedics	Passed	88.10%
Marin	Marinwood CSD	$24	Paramedics	Passed	71.21%
Marin	Corte Madera	$45/residential	Paramedics	Passed	73.18%
Marin	Kentfield	$39	Paramedics	Passed	78.99%
Marin	Fairfax	$39	Paramedics	Passed	76.10%
Marin	Larkspur	$45	Paramedics	Passed	74.21%
Marin	Ross	$48/residential	Paramedics	Passed	81.38%
Marin	Lucas Valley CSA	$24 increase	Paramedics	Passed	89.62%
Marin	Santa Venetia Bayside Acres FPD	$24 increase	Paramedics	Passed	74.21%
Marin	Ross Valley PCSA	$48/residential		Passed	75.59%
Mendocino	South Coast FPD	$35 increase		Passed	67.89%
San Diego	Rincon Ranch CSD	$150 + $5.20/ac	Streets	Passed	66.67%
San Diego	Julian Cuyamaca FPD	$50 +		Passed	73.56%
San Luis Obispo	Cambria HCD.	$65 increase	Paramedics/ambulance	Passed	72.25%
San Mateo	East Palo Alto C	$75/residential	Public safety	Passed	67.70%
San Mateo	East Palo Alto D	$75/residential	Public safety	Failed	30.30%
Santa Barbara	Vandenberg Village CSD	$22	Library	Failed	52.55%
Siskiyou	Mt. Shasta FPD	$100	Fire	Failed	44.25%
Siskiyou	McCloud	$15 to $67	Park & Recreation	Failed	39.06%
Siskiyou	McCloud "F"	$131	Fire & Emergency	Failed	49.19%
Siskiyou	Yreka	$60 up to $350 business property	Fire protection	Passed	67.58%
Sonoma	Windsor FPD	$.04 square foot		Passed	69.30%
Sonoma	Gold Ridge FPD	$40/residential		Failed	66.60%
Sonoma	Rancho Adobe FPD	$6.25/unit/risk		Failed	64.00%
Stanislaus	Keyes CSD	$9 increase	Street lighting	Failed	29.01%
Trinity	Hayfork-Mountain Community Medical Services District	$118	Hospital	Passed	74.91%
Tulare	Woodlake FPD	$22.60	Fire	Passed	72.51%
Tulare	Springville Memorial	$8.50	Parks	Passed	70.85%
Tulare	Ivanhoe Public Utility District	Up to $24/year	Street lights	Passed	78.24%

AD VALOREM PROPERTY TAX MEASURE
County	Jurisdiction	Amount	Purpose	Result	% Yes
Santa Cruz	Watsonville	Caps average retirement rate at 0.077%	Pensions	Passed	50.96%

HOTEL TAX MEASURES
County	Jurisdiction	Amount	Result	% Yes
Del Norte	Del Norte County	Repeal government employee exemption	Passed	51.67%
Del Norte	Del Norte County	2% increase	Failed	39.49%
Del Norte	Del Norte County	Extend to RV parks	Failed	37.02%
Del Norte	Crescent City	2% increase	Failed	32.68%
Glenn	City of Orland	2% increase	Passed	59.55%
Inyo	Inyo County	Increase 3%	Passed	52.83%
Kern	Tehachapi	4% increase	Failed	45.90%
Mendocino	Ukiah	2% increase	Passed	53.34%
Merced	Livingston	2% increase	Failed	39.55%
Orange	La Habra	10% new	Failed	46.70%
Riverside	La Quinta	Extend	Passed	78.82%
Riverside	Indian Wells	Condo Renters Fee	Passed	82.11%
San Bernardino	Hesperia	3% increase	Passed	54.10%
Santa Barbara	Solvang	1% increase	Failed	48.00%
Solano	Rio Vista	2% increase	Passed	57.41%
Sonoma	Cotati	2% increase	Failed	36.00%
Yuba	Wheatland	10%	Passed	65.20%

BUSINESS LICENSE TAX MEASURES
County	Jurisdiction	Amount	Result	% Yes
Monterey	Carmel	12c per $1,000	Passed	63.20%
Humboldt	Blue Lake	$50, plus $15 first 14 workers	Passed	64.10%

UTILITY USERS TAX MEASURES
County	Jurisdiction	Amount	Result	% Yes
Alameda	Fremont	4% gas and electricity	Failed	42.60%
Fresno	Fowler	Continue existing taxes	Passed	65.90%
Humboldt	Eureka	3%	Passed	51.60%
Los Angeles	Compton	10% to 8.5%; expands to tax wireless	Passed	89.80%
Los Angeles	San Marino	Continues 6% tax	Passed	58.29%
San Mateo	Daly City	Continues 5% tax	Passed	71.40%
San Mateo	Menlo Park	3.5% gs; 2.5% commercial	Passed	50.30%
San Mateo	Portola Valley	5.5% to 4.5%	Passed	86.20%

PARKING TAX MEASURE
County	Jurisdiction	Amount	Result	% Yes
San Francisco	San Francisco	10% surcharge	Failed	32.77%

BONDS (NON-SCHOOL)
County	Jurisdiction	Amount	Purpose	Result	% Yes
Alameda	Albany	$5 million	Fire safety	Passed	76.40%
Alameda	Oakland	$148 million	Library	Failed	64.10%
Alameda	Hayward Area Recreation/Park District	$30 million	Open space	Failed	63.00%
Contra Costa	Orinda	$59.1 million	Roads, etc.	Failed	64.38%
Fresno	Sierra Kings Hospital District	$20 million	Hospital	Passed	69.20%
Imperial	Holtville	$5.2 million		Failed	41.40%
Kern	Kern Valley Health CD	$12.5 million	Hospital	Failed	65.36%
Los Angeles	Claremont	$12.5 million	Open space	Passed	70.80%
Los Angeles	City of Los Angeles	$1 billion	Housing	Failed	62.86%
Los Angeles	Diamond Bar	$13.1 million	Library	Failed	29.20%
San Mateo	Burlingame	$37 million	Flood control	Failed	64.00%
San Diego	Tri-City Health District	$596 million	Hospital	Failed	64.79%
Santa Cruz	Scotts Valley FPD	$5.2 million	Fire protection	Failed	52.27%

LOCAL SCHOOL BOND MEASURES
County	District	Amount	Result	% Yes	Two-Thirds?
Alameda	San Leandro Unified	$109 million	Passed	68.70%
Calaveras	Calaveras USD	$13.5 million	Passed	55.78%
Contra Costa	Liberty Union HSD	$85 million	Failed	53.21%
Contra Costa	Pittsburg USD	$85 million	Passed	74.12%
El Dorado	Black Oak Mine USD	$6.9 million	Passed	62.50%
El Dorado	Buckeye Union SD	$28.3 million	Passed	62.40%
Fresno	Selma USD	$23.8 million	Passed	70.10%
Fresno/Tulare	Kings Canyon USD	$32 million	Passed	60.30%
Fresno/Tulare	Dinuba USD	$37 million	Passed	59.40%
Fresno/Kings/et al	West Hills CCD	$49.4 million	Failed	50.60%
Humboldt	Fortuna ESD	$3.9 million	Passed	73.90%
Humboldt	Jacoby Creek Charter School	$2.5 million	Failed	46.30%
Kern	Bakersfield Elementary	$100 million	Passed	63.83%
Kern	Greenfield Elementary	$40 million	Passed	69.91%
Kings/Tulare (Hanford campus)	College of the Sequoias	$22 million	Passed	59.40%
Lake	Middletown USD	$15.3 million	Passed	66.90%
Lassen	Susanville School District	$6.25 million	Failed	52.05%
Los Angeles	Arcadia USD	$218 million	Passed	67.00%
Los Angeles	Baldwin Park USD	$75.5 million	Passed	72.00%
Los Angeles	Bassett USD	$20 million	Passed	73.40%
Los Angeles	El Segundo USD	$19 million	Failed	50.00%
Los Angeles	Paramount USD	$100 million	Passed	74.10%
Los Angeles	Santa Clarita CCD	$160 million	Passed	62.60%
Los Angeles	Santa Monica-Malibu USD	$268 million	Passed	67.50%
Madera	Madera USD	$32.5 million	Passed	60.60%
Mendocino/Lake	Mendocino Lake CCD	$67.5 million	Passed	60.60%
Mendocino	Mendocino Unified SD	$15.5 million	Passed	70.92%
Merced	Merced Unified HSD	$104 million	Failed	53.29%
Monterey	Alisal Union School District	$90 million	Passed	64.80%
Monterey	Santa Rita Union ESD	$14.6 million	Passed	57.80%
Napa	Napa Valley USD	$183 million	Passed	60.70%
Orange	Rancho Santiago CCD	$393 million	Failed	53.20%
Placer	Loomis Union SD	$19.5 million	Failed	51.80%
Riverside	Banning Unified	$63 million	Passed	57.96%
Riverside	Corona-Narco Unified	$250 million	Passed	61.69%
Riverside	Hemet Unified	$149 million	Passed	58.23%
Riverside	Perris ESD	$25 million	Passed