Critics of Cloverdale’s proposed three-quarter-cent sales tax call the suggested tax hike unfair and “bad policy” that could negatively affect residents’ bottom lines and provide little cushion for the city’s budget.

Supporters of the tax, including Mayor Todd Lands; city ​​council members Gus Wolters, Brian Wheeler and Marjorie Morgenstern; Neena Hanchett, executive director of the Chamber of Commerce; and Cloverdale Police Chief Chris Parker say the money generated would improve residents’ quality of life by repairing streets, improving parks and open spaces and improving public safety.

The ballot measure – Measure DD – would take the city from having no locally imposed sales tax to one of the highest in Sonoma County. Cloverdale is the only other city in the county, besides Windsor, that has resisted imposing its own sales tax so far.

Currently, the total sales tax rate in Cloverdale is 9 percent, more than half of which goes to the state government and the rest is shared among the county’s various agencies. The state returns about $1.1 million of its share of sales tax to Cloverdale each year, City Manager David Kelley said.

If passed, the sales tax would increase that rate to 9.75 percent and is expected to generate about $1.66 million annually. That would put the city in a three-way tie for the second-highest sales tax in the county behind Petaluma and Cotati, according to data compiled by city officials.

“It’s so minimal. For just $39 a year, you get access to great roads and the services they offer,” Lands said during a meeting with residents in the spring, highlighting how city officials calculated the annual impact of the hike taxes on residents.

But initial surveys conducted by the city in fall 2023 indicated residents didn’t have the appetite. In fact, only 40.5 percent of respondents said they would support a three-quarter-cent sales tax. The margin of support was slightly higher for a half-cent sales tax.

“Please consider a half-cent sales tax and not a three-quarter-cent tax for the local ballot measure,” Cloverdale resident Sally Evans wrote to the City Council in late June. “A half cent is much more likely to be accepted by residents and adopted. We cannot risk this measure being rejected.”

Despite polling and public comment, the council voted 4-1 in favor of placing a three-quarter-cent sales tax on the ballot.

“We did a poll and we ignored it. We took the public comments on board and we ignored them,” outgoing Council Member Melanie Bagby told The Press Democrat. “We had very little debate and they still decided to do it. I was shocked.

Bagby, who will leave the council when his term ends in December, was the only member to vote in June against putting the sales tax measure on the ballot. While there is no official rebuttal to the measure in Sonoma County election materials, she is concerned about the proposed sales tax.

“All the data points to this being a bad decision,” she said.

But Lands, who is running for re-election, disagrees.

“The budget is very, very meager. With inflation, we just can’t keep up,” Lands told The Press Democrat. “If the bill does not pass, Cloverdale will have to fold and we will balance the budget one way or another.”

Hanchett, who has lived in Cloverdale since 2011, says she wants to “see Cloverdale thrive” but worries that “it won’t happen without significant help.”

“All of this sales tax will go directly to Cloverdale,” she said. “And it’s necessary. Things don’t get better on their own.

“It’s quite scary”

Bagby worries that too much is being asked of residents. She said the board did not consider that Measure I — the Sonoma County Child Care and Health Initiative — could pass in November and raise taxes countywide by a quarter of extra cent.

“They just don’t pay attention to all this,” she said. “Honestly, it’s quite scary. If Measure I and this one (the Cloverdale sales tax hike) pass, our taxes here will be 10%.

While the average household income in Cloverdale is $96,894, just over half of Cloverdale residents earn less than this amount, while approximately 6% live below the poverty line. For a family of four, that means they have less than $31,200 a year to make ends meet.

Lands tried to allay residents’ fears that the sales tax could significantly reduce their wages.

“It will impact people $20 to $40 a year,” Lands said, adding that his estimate is “based on how much you spend.” If you spend more, you pay more.

Bagby is not the only one to sound the alarm against the DD measure. In a rare move of bipartisanship, the Sonoma County Democratic Party and the Sonoma County Republican Party also recommended voting against the sales tax measure.