Measure A asked voters:

CITY OF EL CERRITO MEASURE A The El Cerrito Pothole Repair, Local Street Improvement and Maintenance Measure.

To improve neighborhood streets; enhance road safety citywide by fixing potholes; maintaining, repairing and repaving streets; sealing cracks; improving handicap ramps, crosswalks, bicycle lanes; and maintaining road markings and signage, shall the City of El Cerrito incur debt to immediately begin and accelerate street improvements, paid by establishing a dedicated one-half cent sales tax used exclusively for street improvements, with citizens' oversight and independent audits of expenditures?

YES NO

Prior to the election, residents asked excellent questions about Measure A. Here are the answers…

Is it a sales tax? Is it a bond?
If approved by the voters, Measure A would establish a local half percent sales tax increase in El Cerrito to be used exclusively for street repair and maintenance. The sales tax increase is estimated to bring in approximately $1.2 million in the first year. To immediately begin repairing the streets, the City will issue bonds to be paid directly and exclusively from the proceeds of the sales tax. Measure A will allow the City to begin to repair residential streets immediately and keep repaired streets from falling into disrepair again.

Why act now?
Without additional funding, El Cerrito’s street and road infrastructure will only deteriorate further.

Do the streets need repair or on-going maintenance?
Both. City and neighborhood streets are pitted with potholes and cracks. Maintaining the City’s 68 miles of streets is important to El Cerrito’s future. The City needs additional funding to repair existing hazards and properly maintain the streets.

How does the Measure A meet the needs of residents?
Measure A contains provisions to address the following issues, which were designated as community priorities by citizens who provided input during the course of our planning:

• The streets that are in the worst shape will be repaired first. Under the current expenditure plan, most of the basic repairs will be done in the first year and 75% of the streets will be completed within four years.
• 95% of the money will be spent to repair and maintain neighborhood streets and the other 5% to major roads.
• The measure will fully fund El Cerrito's long-range street maintenance program.
• An independent citizen's oversight committee will provide financial oversight to ensure proper spending of taxpayer money.
• The money raised by the sales tax will be placed in a restricted fund and can only be used for street repair and maintenance.

Will Measure A hurt local merchants or businesses?
No. The El Cerrito Chamber of Commerce has endorsed Measure A. There is no evidence that shoppers will go elsewhere as a result of Measure A, which is similar to other measures successfully enacted in other California cities and in the cities surrounding El Cerrito. El Cerrito’s current sales tax rate is 8.25%, so a half percent sales tax increase would raise the rate to 8.75%. Many communities surrounding El Cerrito (including Richmond, Pinole, Albany and Berkeley) already have implemented additional sales taxes and have a sales tax rate of 8.75%.

What streets would be fixed by this measure?
Ninety-five percent of the money will be spent on maintaining, repairing and repaving neighborhood streets. The other 5% will go to major roads. Street repairs includes fixing potholes and sealing cracks as well as improving crosswalks, curb ramps and bicycle lanes as needed. The streets that are in the worst shape will be repaired first. Under the current expenditure plan, most of the basic repairs will be done in the first year, and 75% of the streets will be completed within four years.

What about the required upgrades to the sewer lines and street repairs?
The City is working with Stege Sanitary District to ensure street repairs and sewer upgrades do not conflict or create extra, unnecessary work.

Does Measure A impact any of the West Contra Costa School Unified District future plans with regard to school sites?
No. Measure A would fix all City streets that are in need of repair and maintenance, based on their Pavement Condition Index (PCI) rating, not the decisions of a separate agency such as the School District. The City controls maintenance of the streets and appropriately oversees any repairs, changes, or signage and crosswalk issues. The City will insist that the School District engage in a comprehensive review process of any future plans to ensure any impacts to the City and our residents are fully examined and addressed.

Are there assurances that the funds will be spent responsibly?
Money from Measure A will be placed in a restricted fund that can only be used for streets. Measure A also includes tough fiscal accountability provisions such as annual independent financial audits and citizens oversight to ensure taxpayer dollars are spent as promised.

Is the Measure A Expenditure Plan online?
Yes! The expenditure plan starts on page 10 of the following PDF
http://www.el-cerrito.org/home/pdf/exhibita.pdf

How can I learn more?
Read the City Council Resolution

MORE DETAILS...

The majority of El Cerrito's approximately 68 miles of streets are in poor condition and unable to meet today's traffic demands. Residential and neighborhood streets in El Cerrito are pitted with potholes and cracks with more than 70% of residential streets rated as "Poor" on the Pavement Condition Index (PCI). In the next five years the City's average rating for streets will drop from fair to poor if roads are not maintained.

Prior to the City Council placing the Measure on the ballot, the City reached out to the public to assess community priorities and evaluate whether to proceed with a finance measure. Thank you to the 1,200+ residents who responded to the Community Survey questionnaire or provided input at a community meeting! Here are some community priorities we heard:

• Fixing potholes and repairing streets that are already in poor condition as top priorities.
• Maintaining and repairing neighborhood streets.
• Improving the condition of the streets in El Cerrito.
• Providing a constant stream of funding for the ongoing maintenance of all 68 miles of the city's roads

The City currently has inadequate dedicated funding in order to maintain current roads that are in good condition, or make significant repairs to streets in poor condition and needs additional funding to properly repair City streets, including structurally repairing potholes, sealing cracks, repaving, and maintenance and improvement of curbs, gutters, ramps and striping. Without additional funding, the street and road infrastructure will deteriorate further and be more expensive to fix later.

The needed improvements and maintenance on the City of El Cerrito street system far exceed the available revenues for these activities. While the City remains committed to continue efforts to obtain all Federal and State funding for street improvements, it is apparent that without additional revenue, the City will be unable to improve the street system to a level that will adequately serve the traveling public.

According to independent experts, the condition of
El Cerrito streets places the City among the ten worst cities in the Bay Area.

The Metropolitan Transportation Commission's "pavement quality report card," is a bi-annual analysis of city and county roads in the region. Highlights from the 2006 report can be viewed at
www.mtc.ca.gov/news/press_releases/2006/rel376.htm.

The Report is part of the MTC's "State of the System" report, available at www.mtc.ca.gov/library/state_of_the_system/2006/pavement_condition.pdf

Click here to read the full San Francisco Chronicle article. Note: You will be redirected to the San Francisco Chronicle webpage.

If you have further questions, please contact:
Suzanne Iarla, Public Information Specialist
at (510) 215-4318 or
siarla@ci.el-cerrito.ca.us