Modesto developed an initial plan for Measure H tax money. Here’s what’s in it
Modesto’s 1 percent sales tax increase is expected take effect April 1, and the city plans to spend its initial proceeds on hiring more park rangers, trimming more trees and increasing park maintenance.
City officials outlined the $3.54 million plan this week at a City Council Finance Committee meeting. Committee members unanimously endorsed the plan and forwarded it to the full council for approval.
Officials created a plan they believe will provide immediate benefits in public safety, blight, homelessness and deferred maintenance, according to an email from the city.
The plan includes:
▪ Hiring four park rangers, which will double the number from four to eight. Modesto launched its ranger program last year. The four additional rangers would focus on Tuolumne River Regional Park to deal with homelessness, blight and municipal code violations while also providing coverage of other city parks, according to a city report. Cost: $282,083.
▪ Hiring one full-time and three part-time maintenance workers for a second police department blight abatement team. One team would clean up homeless encampments, while the second would focus on blight, such as illegal dumping and graffiti. Cost: $149,246.
▪ Hiring two civilian investigators to help the police department’s special victims and traffic safety units. Cost: $165,600.
▪ Hiring a consultant to determine how many engine and ladder companies the fire department needs and where they should be located to optimize 911 response times and for equipment to ensure all engines and ladder trucks have Advanced Life Support capability. Cost: $90,000 for the consultant and $350,000 for the equipment.
▪ Hiring a supervisor, two mechanics and six maintenance workers to create another park maintenance crew. The city has said it has $74 million in deferred maintenance in its parks. Cost: $784,214.
▪ The Parks, Recreation and Neighborhoods Department also is proposing to spend about $370,000 in such efforts as trimming park trees, repairing the light fixtures and timers at 16 tennis courts, repairing and upgrading playgrounds and for cleanups.
▪ Public Works plans to hold two more “drive up and drop off events” similar to the one it held in June at John Thurman Field in which residents dropped off broken furniture, televisions, washers and dryers and other bulky items as well as trash. Residents dropped off more than 36 tons of stuff at last year’s event. Cost: $110,000.
▪ Public Works wants to extend the city’s contract with Grover Landscape Services to help the forestry division. The work would include planting, pruning and inspecting city trees. Cost: $755,000.
▪ Public Works also wants to upgrade lighted crosswalks that are partially working and outdated. Cost $75,000.
The spending plan includes costs for such items as cell phones, trucks for the park rangers and body cameras for the rangers and civilian investigators.
This funding comes from Measure H — the 1 percent sales tax increase voters approved in the Nov. 8 election. As a general tax, Modesto can spend Measure H on any service it provides. But city officials say the tax will be spent on such basics as public safety, parks and homelessness.
City officials in coordination with the City Council will develop a plan for the $39 million the tax is expected to generate in Modesto’s 2023-24 budget year, which starts July 1.
Councilman Nick Bavaro — who serves on the Finance Committee — said the initial spending plan reflects the Measure H campaign’s message to voters that the tax increase would improve public safety, tackle the city’s deferred maintenance and reduce blight.
“We’re on the right road,” he said about the plan. “... We want to be able to support those things that people can see right away, like more park rangers. People are going to see their money being spent.”
City officials could not say when the plan would come to the City Council and did not respond to a question on how quickly the city could implement it after full approval.
The $3.54 million for the plan comes from the approximately $10 million the city expects the tax will generate from April 1 through June 30, the final quarter of the city’s current 2022-23 budget year. City officials will present a plan for the remaining $6.46 million from the $10 million at a later date to the committee and council.
Besides hiring more park rangers, the police department plans on expanding its Community Health and Assistance Team by hiring six more outreach specialists and a crime analyst. CHAT now has six outreach specialists. They work with homeless people and people in crisis.
This will cost $622,059 and the funding will come from the Community Corrections Partnership Plan funding Stanislaus County receives from the state. The city report for the Finance Committee meeting states the City Council will need to approve this proposal.
