New Plan Emerging?

Back to the sales tax since that will be a major discussion on Tuesday with the public hearing on setting the referendum.

Remember, we talked about something going on behind the scenes with the sales tax. We talked about the BOCC suddenly getting involved in the process they said they wanted to stay out of.

If you remember, Commissioner Jeff Kinnard had mentioned conversations that he had with people and that changed his mind on the sales tax direction. Well, I did a deeper dive into this and did a text message request. I got this back.

The green is Kinnard. The gray is a citizen. I'm withholding the identity of that person for now.

For context, this conversation took place just after the BOCC discussion on the sales tax to be used for residential roads. That was the consensus at the meeting. Commissioner Barek said "citizens want THEIR roads paved".

Right after this conversation, Kinnard fires off the email to county attorney Denise Lyn directing her to make sure she includes text that will allow for all roads.

Now, this whole process was guided by the Chamber and their idea of a steering committee. I had reservations with a Chamber driven process, as many in this county do not trust the Chamber, but that is the process that the BOCC decided to go by and they said they would stick to it.

This is what that committee decided.

This is the language that is being proposed for the sales tax.

Not exactly the same thing. Not only is there no parks or expansion included, there is no citizen committee appointed to review the income and expenditures, as requested by the steering committee. Again, the change was driven by behind the scenes BOCC conversations.

Then you have Commissioner Bays asking staff their thoughts in an email she sent before the meeting where she brought up the conversation without an agenda item. I would LOVE to hear what thoughts they have about all of this. What is the staff suggestion? Why not have that discussion publicly?

So again, you have commissioners bypassing the process they said they would follow, having their own conversations and making their own conclusions... and none of it in public view.

For what it is worth, my survey that shows the proposed language will fail. 76% of the voters who participated said they would vote against it.

Remember, this is about trust. If the community does not trust the BOCC, they will not vote to tax themselves another 1% and give that money to the BOCC.

Lost in all of this is the plan. Where is the plan for the roads? Earlier on Tuesday, the BOCC will hear from its consultant on road paving. They will hear that the county is behind $714m in resurfacing projects due to past neglect. They will discuss the software the county will have access to so they can better plan for road maintenance.

But where is the plan that staff has put together to do that? Shouldn't that be part of the sales tax discussion? I would think if the citizens were shown a plan in how the county will spend the money, they will have greater buy in from the community on a sales tax.

Does that come later? Remember, we are a year away from any referendum voting. There is time for all that to come together, but then, I do this vote now? I understand that the county wants to pass this off to the Chamber to market it, but what are they marketing? THERE IS NO PLAN.

So again, I ask, why do this now? Why not wait, let staff come back with a road maintenance plan using the new software and then tie the sales tax into that. If approved, it becomes a funding source for the county road plan. People know exactly where the money is going and all of that.

So I ask the BOCC again.... why the rush. I have verified that we have until March to do this, why not use that time to actually put together a plan and present that to the citizens?

Speaking of plans, I was sent an email that the commissioners received from Trust For Public Land. They have offered to do a proper market research study for the sales tax and then help guide the county through that process at NO CHARGE to the county. They claim they have a success rate of over 90%. How can this be? Because proper market research will give the accurate representation of how voters feel. If TFPL suggests the entity move forward with the referendums, that means they feel the voters will support it. If they do not feel voters will support it, they will recommend that entity not go through with it.

That is the power of proper market research. If the support is there, it does not need to be marketed so much. No one needs to continually beat people over the head to tell them to vote for it. The support is already there.

Maybe this is the delay that we need. Let TFPL come in, do their research, provide a presentation and then decide how to move forward. With how often this county pays to have consultants come in and tell us what we need and what to do, why would we not take up an offer for someone to do it for FREE?

Again, no reason to rush this through. It does not hurt the sales tax effort if we start in March rather than November. This gives plenty of time for staff to create an overall road plan and plenty of time for the market research. Tie it all together, bring it to a meeting in March and make the decision whether to go forward or not.

More importantly... This lets the BOCC stay on the sidelines, as they said they would.

We will see what Tuesday brings!