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- What is Measure A? |
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- Why is Measure A being proposed? |
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- Will Measure A raise the local sales
tax? |
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- How much does the ½ cent sales tax
cost the average county household?
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- Does it take a simple majority vote of
county voters to pass Measure A? |
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- Who administers the Measure A program
if it passes? |
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- Who picked the projects in the
investment plan that will be funded by
Measure A? |
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- What guarantees are there that the
money will be spent as promised? |
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- Why use Measure A dollars to widen
Highway 101, isn't it a state highway?
Shouldn't Caltrans do it? |
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- If
Measure A is approved, will our county
receive any additional state or federal
matching funds? |
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- How do
I find out what projects would be funded
in the area of the county where I live?
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- What
projects on the investment plan list
will be delivered first? |
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What guarantees are there that SBCAG will deliver the south coast
Highway 101 widening this time? |
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- Are we the only county in the
state
with a transportation sales tax measure?
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What's in Measure A for alternative
transportation and services to the
seniors and disabled? |
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- Why
do we need a
transportation sales tax, aren't we
already paying state and federal gas
taxes? |
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Will each area of the County receive its
fair share of Measure A funds? |
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- If Measure A fails in November, would
SBCAG try to place another measure on
the ballot? |
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- If Measure A fails
and the sales tax for transportation
expires in 2010, what impact would this
have? |
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- What has the existing
sales tax
done to improve our local roads
compared to neighboring counties? |
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Buellton Avenue of the Flags |
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- How much Measure A funding would
be spent by SBCAG on administration? |
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Have any negative impacts of the
transportation projects in Measure A
been asserted by anyone?
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- Where can I find out more about
Measure A? |
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What is Measure A? |
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This November 2008,
Santa Barbara
County voters will be
asked to renew the existing ½ cent local
transportation sales tax measure set to
expire on March 31, 2010 for an
additional thirty years.
If approved by voters, Measure A
2008 will generate an estimated $1.05
billion for needed road repair, traffic
congestion relief and safety
improvements.
All of the funding will be spent
in Santa
Barbara
County on projects listed in a
transportation investment plan that will
be distributed to voters in the county
by the
County Elections office.
If
voters approve Measure A, they are also
approving expenditure of funds on the
projects in the investment plan.
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Why is Measure A being proposed? |
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In 1989, county voters authorized a
local transportation plan funded through
a countywide ½ cent sales tax known as
Measure D.
The term of Measure D is 20 years
and it is set to expire in 2010.
If the current ½ cent sales tax
is not extended through voter approval
of Measure A, nearly $35 million
annually in revenues needed for
transportation will be lost. (back
to top)
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Will Measure A raise the local sales
tax? |
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No. Measure A is not a tax increase.
Measure A will extend for an
additional thirty years the existing ½
cent sales tax for transportation that
has been in place since it was approved
by Santa Barbara County voters in 1989. (back
to top)
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How much does the ½ cent sales tax cost
the average county household?
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The ½ percent sales tax for
transportation costs the average Santa
Barbara County household approximately
$15 per month.
Tourists and visitors pay an
estimated 20% of sales taxes in Santa
Barbara County.
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Does it take a simple majority vote of
county voters to pass Measure A? |
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No, state law requires a two-thirds
majority of county voters to approve a
transportation sales tax measure.
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Who administers the Measure A program if
it passes? |
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State law requires the Santa Barbara
County Association of Governments to
administer the Measure A Transportation
Investment Program.
The SBCAG Board is comprised of
one elected official representative from
each of the eight incorporated cities in Santa Barbara County and each member of the Santa
Barbara County Board of Supervisors.
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Who picked the projects in the
investment plan that will be funded by
Measure A? |
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The Investment Plan was approved by the
SBCAG Board in March 2008 and currently
each city council and the Board of
Supervisors is being asked to approve
the plan.
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What guarantees are there that the money
will be spent as promised? |
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Only those projects listed on the voter
approved transportation investment plan
are eligible for funding.
A citizen’s oversight committee
will review local spending decisions to
make sure the Measure A provisions are
strictly carried out.
By
state law, no more than one percent of
Measure A funds can be used for
administration.
SBCAG, the Board of Supervisors
and City councils must hold annual
public hearings to take input on
proposed Measure A expenditures.
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Why
use Measure A dollars to widen Highway
101, isn't it a state highway? Shouldn't
Caltrans do it? |
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Caltrans favors projects where local
jurisdictions share the cost.
Measure
A 2008 would raise $140 million to widen
101.
The total cost of the projects is
more than $400 million which will need
to come from state and federal
transportation funds.
Measure A will help us compete
with other agencies around the state for
additional transportation funds.
Without Measure A, at the rate we
are currently eligible for state gas tax
funds; it would take nearly 20 years to
accumulate the money necessary to widen
the 101 freeway. (back
to top) |
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If
Measure A is approved, will our county
receive any additional state or federal
matching funds? |
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Yes, successful passage of Measure A
will leverage additional state and
federal transportation dollars for
Santa Barbara
County projects.
SBCAG estimates an additional
$500 million in state and federal
transportation dollars will come to our
county over the thirty year term of
Measure A.
Increasingly, state and federal
government grant programs favor counties
that have local transportation sales tax
measures to match state and federal
dollars.
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How do I
find out what projects would be funded
in the area of the county where I live?
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The
Projects section describes in detail all
of the projects in both parts of the
county that are included in the Measure
A Investment Plan.
Please visit the following web pages to
learn more about each project:
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Highway 101 Widening
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North County Projects
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South Coast Projects
The full Measure A Investment Plan is
also available
here (pdf).
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What
projects on the investment plan list
will be delivered first? |
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The order of construction projects will
be decided by the SBCAG Board’s adoption
of a Measure A Strategic Plan that will
analyze cash-flow considerations, the
potential to accelerate project delivery
by the use of revenue bonds, and the
potential construction impacts of
projects. (back
to top) |
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What guarantees are there that
SBCAG will deliver the south coast
Highway 101 widening this time?
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The
widening of the 101 freeway south
of Santa Barbara to three lanes in both
directions and eliminating the existing
traffic bottleneck is the highest
priority regional transportation project
in the Measure A Investment Plan.
The first phase, from Milpas Street in Santa Barbara to Montecito, will begin
construction this summer with a
combination of state gas tax and
original Measure D dollars.
The second phase, from Mussell
Shoals in
Ventura
County up to Carpinteria
is also fully funded and will begin
construction in 2011.
The remaining ten mile, two-lane
gap between Montecito and Carpinteria
will receive $140 million from Measure A
if approved by the voters this November.
State gas taxes will contribute
another $130 million dollars to the
project and SBCAG is requesting the
California Transportation Commission
allocate $150 million is state
discretionary transportation dollars to
fully fund the $420 million widening
project.
If Measure A does not pass, the
freeway widening could be delayed by at
least ten years or even cancelled.
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Are we the only county in the state with
a transportation sales tax measure? |
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No, nineteen counties in the State of California have transportation sales tax
measures.
Eighty percent of California’s residents
live in “Self Help Counties” that have
successfully passed transportation sales
tax measures.
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What's in Measure A for alternative
transportation and services to the
seniors and disabled? |
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The Measure A 2008 Transportation
Investment Plan allocates 26% of the
$1.05 billion that will be raised over
thirty years for local and regional
alternative transportation programs and
projects including local and regional
transit, safe routes to school, bicycle
and pedestrian programs and door to door
bus service for frail elderly or
disabled persons.
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Why do we need
a transportation sales tax, aren't we already paying state and
federal taxes? |
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Gas taxes are the financial foundation
for highway and street maintenance.
The
California
state gas tax (18 cents per gallon) was
last raised in 1994, and the Federal gas
tax (18.4 cents per gallon) was last
raised in 1993.
The purchasing power of the gas
tax has eroded dramatically in that time
as inflation has increased the cost of
paving roads.
Because the gas tax is a fixed
amount per gallon, revenues have not
increased as gas prices have increased.
In
addition cars are getting better and
better gas mileage so gas taxes are not
generating enough revenue to repair the
increasing wear and tear on our roads.
To fill the funding gap between
costs and revenue, most urban counties
in
California
have passed local transportation sales
taxes to ensure there is sufficient
revenue to maintain local streets and
roads and to make necessary
transportation improvements in local
communities.
80% of Californians live in
counties with local transportation sales
tax measures.
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Will each area of the County receive its
fair share of Measure A funds? |
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Yes, each area of the County will
benefit directly from Measure A
Transportation
Funds.
SBCAG engaged more than fifty public
representatives from community
organizations in both north and south
county to participate in the process of
developing the new Transportation
Investment Plan. The advisory
groups began meeting in July 2007, and
over nine months considered the
transportation needs and priorities of
each region for the next thirty years.
The two advisory committees reached
consensus on their respective North and
South County Investment Plans in March
of 2008.
Measure A funds will be split
50-50 between north and south county
because the population of the county is
evenly split.
Both regions of the county will
share equally in the cost of widening
the 101 freeway because it is a regional
facility benefiting all the residents of Santa Barbara County.
Each city and the County of Santa Barbara
will receive a yearly direct allocation
of Measure A funds which will be used
for local transportation needs selected
by each community.
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If Measure A fails in November, would
SBCAG try to place another measure on
the ballot? |
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This November is the last opportunity to
renew Santa Barbara County’s
transportation sales tax measure in a
general election before it sunsets in
2010.
This is likely the last chance to
approve a county-wide transportation
investment program because if Measure A
does not receive the necessary
two-thirds voter approval this November,
individual cities may choose to seek
passage of their own city level sales
tax measures in the near future.
It
is unlikely that Regional projects, such
as widening 101 would be funded in local
city sales tax measures and may have to
be delayed or cancelled.
In addition, unincorporated
county areas are not authorized to
implement local sales tax measures, so
the
County
of Santa
Barbara
would be unable to replace Measure D
funds it currently receives to maintain
roads and complete other transportation
projects in unincorporated areas. (back
to top)
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If Measure A fails and the sales tax for
transportation expires in 2010, what
impact would this have? |
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Santa Barbara
County’s
existing transportation sales tax
measure generates nearly $35 million
dollars per year to maintain and improve
local streets and roads and to fund
regional transportation improvement
projects. If Measure A is not successful
this November, this critical funding
source will dry up.
The consequences to the residents
of the Santa Barbara County will be significant.
Each of the cities in Santa Barbara County
depend upon this funding to maintain
local streets and roads.
Regional transit systems like the
Clean Air Express and Coastal Express
rely upon transportation sales tax
revenues to operate.
Needed regional transportation
improvements like widening the 101
freeway in south county or the Santa Maria River
Bridge in the north, passing lanes on
Highway 246 between
Lompoc
and Buellton, a new freeway interchange
in Orcutt and new pedestrian, bicycle
and safe route to school programs will
be eliminated or delayed.
For additional information about the
consequences if Measure A does not pass,
please
click here (pdf).
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What has the existing sales tax
done to improve our local roads compared
to neighboring counties?
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Santa Barbara
County
motorists have seen road quality
steadily improve since the passage of
the current transportation sales tax in
1989.
According to a recent Santa
Barbara County Grand Jury report, “In
1989 just 8% of County roads were in the
Very Good range, in 2005 58% of the
County roads were in this range.”
This steady improvement has been
replicated in each of
Santa Barbara
County’s incorporated
cities as well.
In contrast, the Ventura County
Board of Supervisors has adopted an 87
year paving schedule for County roads
because their local transportation sales
tax measure failed at the polls.
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How much Measure A funding would
be spent by SBCAG on administration?
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The amount of Measure A funding that can
be used for staff salaries and benefits
for administration is limited by State
law and the Measure A Investment Plan to
no more than 1% of total revenue.
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Have any negative impacts of the
transportation projects in Measure A
been asserted by anyone?
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Some persons who
oppose transportation programs relying
on individual use of automobiles have
asserted that any transportation project
that enhances or expands the road
network and highway system for the use
of automobiles will concomitantly
increase the “carbon footprint” of the
use of automobiles with possible adverse
environmental consequences. Similarly,
those who favor increased alternative
transportation methods, such as commuter
rail and transit, believe that the
present balance of these programs to
highway and street related projects
should be changed.
The North and South Policy Development
Committees that helped develop the
Investment Plan understood Measure A
would not generate sufficient funding to
address every transportation need and
that it would be necessary to establish
priorities and that creating a consensus
plan with broad public support would
require tradeoffs. Some members of
the committees have expressed a desire
to have more funding in the Investment
Plan allocated for specific projects
such as commuter rail and alternative
transportation modes. Others
object to spending tax funds on such
projects and would prefer to see more
funding for highways and local roads.
The mix of alternative and traditional
transportation projects in the Measure A
Investment Plan was crafted after a
significant effort in public outreach
and consensus building.
Some community organizations have
posted information expressing
alternative views on Measure A on their
websites:
Coalition
for a Fair Measure A
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http://www.coast-santabarbara.org/projects/index.php?page=measurea
Santa Barbara
Coalition Against Automobile Subsidies
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http://friendsofsantabarbara.org/index2.php
Santa
Barbara Bicycle Coalition
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http://sbbike.org/QR/2008/0804/0804.html
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Where can I find out more about
Measure A? |
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For more information about Measure A,
please contact Gregg Hart at (805)
961-8900.
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