A Lookout View: Yes on Measures K and L

Editor’s note: A Lookout View is the opinion of our Community Voices opinion section, written by our editorial board, which consists of Community Voices Editor Jody K. Biehl and Lookout Founder Ken Doctor. Our goal is to connect the dots we see in the news and offer a bigger-picture view — all intended to see Santa Cruz County meet the challenges of the day and to shine a light on issues we believe must be on the public agenda. These views are distinct and independent from the work of our newsroom and its reporting.

No one likes taxes – not calculating them and not paying them.

It’s always bitter to shell out more money at the register, especially when those funds seem to evaporate the moment you cough them up. But we believe taxes are needed to fund critical programs and services across the county and city. 

That’s why we support both Measures K and L. 

Measure K will appear on all county ballots and would raise sales tax by 0.5% (from 9% to 9.5%) to generate an estimated additional $10 million annually. Measure L would raise sales tax in the City of Santa Cruz by 0.5% (from 9.25% to 9.75%) and bring in an estimated $8 million annually. Both taxes would require a 50% plus 1 vote and begin July 1. 

The added funding is small, considering the county’s overall $1.1 billion budget and the city’s $426 million budget. But we know the boost would give our electeds a greater ability to serve our neediest and continue the hard work of providing services and outreach. 

Countywide, it would provide support for front-line workers, wildfire preparedness, mental health, parks, homelessness services and road repairs, an issue all 11 candidates at our forums insisted is a priority and one that residents regularly complain about. The state-mandated Community Assistance, Recovery and Empowerment (CARE) Courts are coming and will need funding. 

We regularly hear complaints from residents about the county permitting process and the slow rates of rebuilding from the CZU wildfire. We also know the county planning department is understaffed. We don’t want bloat, but we do need to seek out the best staff and pay them competitive wages if we want to innovate and provide better service. 

Some of our supervisor candidates have innovative ideas, particularly around permitting and building, but also around caring for the neediest. But none of this can happen without funding, particularly since the Federal Emergency Management Agency is taking so long to repay us for disaster recovery efforts. 

We hear critics – including several candidates running for supervisor – who say we need to streamline the budget, make cuts, not use taxes to boost revenue. We’d like to see specific proposals and line items. Right now, what we mostly hear is rhetoric. 

Current and past supervisors have told us of the hard choices they have to make when deciding what programs and services to fund and which to cut. Right now, the crunch is so tight they have three main choices: cut staff, cut hours or cut programs/services. 

We hope Measure K will help ease that burden a bit. 

The same holds true for the City of Santa Cruz, where officials say the city’s fiscal reserves will be gone by 2027. That’s not good news.   

We see the excellent progress the city is making on affordable housing and the incremental progress on homelessness and applaud it and want it to continue. The city is one of only 6% of state jurisdictions to meet the state housing mandate and – if it keeps going – should have built more than 3,700 units by 2031. 

That is a statistic we all can celebrate.   

Many state-required projects now require a local match; Measure L could help us get there. It could also help us pay for staff needed for outreach and support. 

It could also continue something we see as vital: more collaboration between the city and the county. 

Critics insist that taxes hurt the neediest. Here, we’re glad to see that both the city and county will exempt essential goods and services, like food, medicine, diapers and feminine hygiene products. That’s the right way to tax. 

Studies show tourists will account for about half the funds collected, which is a local win. 

No one likes taxes, but we see Measures K and L as crucial to our community. We say yes to both.