Humboldt Supes Debate New Tax’s Roads, Transit Spending

A yellow road marking. [ Sherman Tan from Singapore, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons] 

Humboldt County’s new roads and public transit sales tax will generate $24 million a year in revenue and the split between roads and transit spending is shaping up to be a divisive issue among county supervisors.

A debate on it complicated a perfunctory bureaucratic task at the Feb. 11 Board of Supervisors meeting.

Up for approval was formation of an ad hoc committee that will make a recommendation on how the sales tax revenue should be divvied up between roads and transit.

The proposed make-up of the committee included Board Chair Michelle Bushnell and Supervisor Steve Madrone, who comprise the board’s Measure O roads subcommittee.

That was questioned by Supervisor Mike Wilson, who said the roads subcommittee was to be active only during Measure O’s election phase.

Beyond that, Wilson said he’s “a little bit nervous” about how the significant Measure O revenue will be split, as support for roads and support for public transit varies depending on location.

“Transit for our vulnerable populations polled pretty darn well,” he said of pre-election polling. “But it actually polled very well in districts – in District 3 (Arcata area) and in District 4 (Eureka area).”

He added the Third District “voted 70% to support this” and “the perspective and the expectation may vary regionally, that’s all I’m saying.”

With Supervisor Rex Bohn saying county roads are “terrible” and road work is “the majority of what we sold to voters,” division became apparent.

That prompted an acknowledgment from County Administrative Officer Elishia Hayes.

“This conversation of the roads versus transit has been a sticky one for us through this whole process and your board has been somewhat divided on where that split is gonna fall,” she said. “And so I think when it comes back to your board, it’s going to be sensitive.”

She reminded the board that Measure O spending will be part of the overall budget and will need a majority approval vote of four out of five supervisors.

“And so we’re going to need to find that sweet spot because it will be very easy for any of you to block it if we can’t find comfort amongst four of you in what that split looks like,” she continued.

She suggested putting “one very pro-transit, one very pro-roads board member” on the funding committee.

Measure O was approved with a 63 percent majority last November. The vote was countywide and the one-cent tax increase will be charged in both unincorporated and city areas.

Hence the urban versus rural nature of the board’s division, with Arcata a big part of Wilson’s district and Eureka making up most of Supervisor Natalie Arroyo’s district.

Arroyo said “many, many people” told her they were voting for Measure O due to bus transit needs, which include more service hours and days, and “express service” between Eureka, Arcata and McKinleyville for workers, students and seniors.

Bohn gave a nod to transit funding, saying, “I want transit to be funded,” but his next sentences made clear what he believes the priority should be.

“Transit is not short of funds,” he said. “I mean, there’s a wish list – ‘we need to do this, this, and this’ – but our roads are failing and they’re going to do nothing but get worse if we don’t do anything.”

Well known as an auctioneer at local fundraisers, Bohn assumed the role when he added, “Transit’s not going to deteriorate in the next few years if we don’t give them any money or don’t give them their 10% or 15%, 20%, 25, do I hear a 30, somebody give me a 35?”

But Arroyo had said although transit systems have gotten grant funding for capital improvements like replacing buses, “that is not operational funding.”

Madrone said roads are “in horrible shape” and “we could spend the whole $24 million for the next 10 years and still have great need in the roads, there’s no doubt about it.”

But referring to his Fifth District area, he said McKinleyville “doesn’t really have an inside-the-city transit system” and “there’s long been an interest in trying to improve the evening transit between McKinleyville and Arcata as a lot of students live in McKinleyville as well as Eureka.”

At Bushnell’s suggestion, the board voted to replace her with Wilson on the Measure O funding committee. Bohn cast a lone dissent vote.

Other members of the committee are Madrone and representatives of the county’s Department of Public Works, the Humboldt Transit Authority, the Humboldt County Association of Governments, the McKinleyville Community Services District, the Coalition for Responsible Transportation Priorities, the County Administrative Office, the Building and Construction Trades Council of Humboldt and Del Norte Counties, and the Humboldt Builders Exchange.

Note: Our apologies for the misspelling of McKinleyville several times in an earlier version of this article.