Sacramento mayor pitches rival plan to March ballot measure that seeks youth funding
Just about a month before city of Sacramento voters will decide whether to require the city to set aside roughly $12 million each year for youth services, Mayor Darrell Steinberg is unveiling a counter proposal.
Measure G, which will appear on the March 3 city ballot, would require the city set aside 2.5 percent of its general fund budget, about $12 million, toward youth services each year until 2034. That number would be on top of what the city already spends on youth programs, estimated at $36 million in the current fiscal year. The general fund supports most core city services, including police and fire protection.
Worried the measure would drain city coffers during financial downturns and with pension obligations on the rise, Steinberg is proposing a rival ballot measure for November that would require the city spend 20 percent of its year over year revenue growth on youth.
During a booming economy, that number could reach $12 million or higher, the mayor said. Based on city budget projections, for the next four years Steinberg’s measure would require the city to allocate roughly a minimum of $2.5 million to $3 million to youth nonprofits per year.
Steinberg’s measure would be placed on the November ballot regardless of whether Measure G passes; if Measure G is approved, Steinberg’s measure would override it. The mayor plans to ask the City Council in February to place his measure on the ballot.
“When the city is experiencing good times, there ought to be a guarantee for youth nonprofits, but it ought to be based upon the additional money we have when we are doing well,” Steinberg said, adding, “I want to make clear now to the voters and everybody that there’s a better way.”
If the city is in a deficit and making cuts, it could only cut youth services in equal proportion to other services being slashed, Steinberg said.
Steinberg also opposes Measure G because it could tie the city’s hands from fulfilling promises it made when it asked voters to approve the Measure U sales tax increase in November 2018, Steinberg said.
If Measure G were to pass, it could take funding from other equity-based projects the city is planning to fund with Measure U revenue, such as capital to start minority-owned businesses and sparking the construction of affordable housing, Steinberg said.
“It’s in direct conflict because there is just not enough headroom to do both,” Steinberg said.
Since voters adopted Measure U, the city has approved about $2.5 million for youth “pop up” activity nights on Fridays and Saturdays; $1 million to allow kids to ride public transit for free; $1.9 million for the Del Paso Heights Sports Complex; and $1.3 million to restore the Iceland skating rink in north Sacramento.
More new youth programs and services are on the way. Two citizen committees will make recommendations to the City Council for projects to fund with the rest of the Measure U revenue in the fiscal year that starts July 1, expected to total about $36 million.
What is Measure G in Sacramento?
Measure G would create a 17-member committee, half under the age of 24, to recommend what projects the council should fund. The money could go toward either youth nonprofits or to city departments that serve young people. Under Steinberg’s proposal, the existing Sacramento Youth Commission would weigh in with recommendations, and all the money would go to nonprofits.
The City Council has been divided on the issue. Councilman Jay Schenirer, Eric Guerra and Allen Warren support Measure G, saying it would force the city to fund youth programs in a significant and reliable way.
“I’ve been on council for nine years and we’ve never funded youth programs to the extent that we should,” Schenirer said. “When there’s a recession, kids are the first things to get cut.”
On the other side, Council members Angelique Ashby, Jeff Harris and Larry Carr say it would handicap elected officials from spending money where it needs to be spent, especially when pension costs rise sharply in coming years.
In a somewhat rare occurrence, Ashby and Steinberg are working as allies on this issue.
“He’s trying to find the middle ground,” Ashby said of the mayor’s proposal. “It lets folks know in the nonprofit world that we hear them and they want some assurances that when the city’s doing well, they’ll be included in that. At the same time, it will not jeopardize core city services, which I believe Measure G does.”
Editor’s note: A previous version of this story reported Measure G would expire in 2031. The measure would expire in 2034.
This story was originally published January 29, 2020 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Sacramento mayor pitches rival plan to March ballot measure that seeks youth funding."
