Transpo tax battle begins

By KEVIN COURTNEY, Register Staff Writer

With a half-cent transportation sales tax on the June ballot, the campaign to win over Napa County's more than 65,000 voters is about to begin.

The Napa County Transportation Planning Agency will spend $60,000 for two informational mailings within coming weeks, but the major advocacy will be done by a private group that hopes to raise more than $300,000.

Voters are being asked to raise the county's sales tax from 7.75 percent to 8.25 percent. This would bring in $537 million over the next 30 years for local streets and highways and make the county eligible for state and federal grants.

Two-thirds of the money will go for street and road maintenance in the cities and unincorporated area, while 28 percent will improve the Jamieson Canyon corridor, including intersections at Highway 29. Six percent would go to transit programs.

"Anytime you have a tax needing a two-thirds vote, you have to have a really concentrated effort," said Supervisor Bill Dodd, who chairs the Transportation Planning Agency. "The private sector is really going to have to step forward and put on a campaign."

Getting two-thirds voter approval for Measure H will not be easy, said Mike Zdon, the agency's executive director. "It's very challenging. Our guess is it could pass with as little as 40-50 votes or fail by as little as 40-50 votes."

Private supporters have formed Citizens for Safety and Congestion Relief to fight for the transportation tax. "The big employers in my view will pay in this campaign," Dodd said. "It's important that their workers get to and from work with efficiency and safety."

Dorothy Salmon, a senior consultant with the Napa Valley Economic Development Corp., said a pro-Measure H campaign could cost $300,000 to $400,000, including in-kind services, she said.

Employers who are concerned about the safety of their employees are expected to fund the bulk of the private campaign, she said.

Salmon said the successful community effort in 1998 to pass a half-cent sales tax for flood control was a model of what needs to happen to pass the transportation tax.

The flood measure squeaked by after a $500,000 private sector campaign, Salmon said. Because bad roads affect everyone, the transportation tax may be an easier sell, she said.

"Transportation affects everyone in a much more obvious way than even flooding did," she said. "For people on hills, (flooding) wasn't an issue."

The Transportation Planning Agency must walk the fine line between information and advocacy when it sends out two mailers at the end of February and early March, Zdon said.

Because it is using taxpayer funds, the agency cannot urge passage of Measure H, but it can explain the proposition in detail, Zdon said.

The first mailer will go to all 47,800 county households, explaining what programs will be funded by the tax. In the second mailing, pamphlets tailored to each of the county's five cities and the unincorporated area will present more detailed information, Zdon said.

Both the agency and the private sector group need to gear up now because the June 6 election is coming on fast, Zdon said. Absentee voting will begin April 17, he said.

Solano County is also preparing a half-cent transportation tax for the June primary ballot, with funds to widen the Solano County section of Jamieson Canyon Road to four lanes, Zdon said.

Together, the Napa and Solano taxes would generate the funds needed to increase safety and flow along the entire length of Jamieson Canyon and build an interchange at Jamieson/Highway 29, he said.

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