The Nov. 6 ballot asks voters throughout Napa County to make a decision that won't take effect until 2018 and then will last for 25 years.
Measure T aims to raise money for local streets, roads and sidewalks without requiring residents to reach into their pockets for extra taxes.
Instead, if at least two-thirds of county voters agree on Tuesday, the measure's half-cent sales tax would go into effect when the current countywide sales tax for flood control expires in 2018.
Known on the ballot as Napa Valley Transportation Authority Ordinance No. 2012-01, "Napa Countywide road maintenance act imposing a transaction and use tax to be administered by the State Board of Equalization," Measure T includes a spending plan that divides the annual sales tax proceeds among county municipalities:
- City of Napa: 40.35 percent
- County of Napa: 39.65 percent
- City of American Canyon: 7.7 percent
- City of St. Helena: 5.9 percent
- Town of Yountville: 2.7 percent
The 25-year half-cent sales tax measure would go into effect July 1, 2018. Expenditures would be monitored by an independent taxpayer oversight committee.
Unlike previous, more comprehensive county transportation tax measures that been opposed by taxpayer advocates and failed to pass, Measure T has had no formal opposition.
Political commentator Michael Haley, in his influential blog, has thrown his support behind the measure: Please see Support the Transportation Tax.
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