Voters reject Sacramento youth fund initiative Measure G
Sacramento voters have rejected Measure G, a proposal that would have required Sacramento to set aside roughly $12 million of its general fund for youth programs.
As of Wednesday morning, results showed 54 percent voted no and 46 percent voted yes. The next update is scheduled to be released Friday.
Sacramento teens gathered more than 38,000 signatures to qualify the measure for the ballot.
The measure would have required the city set aside an additional 2.5 percent of its general fund for youth services and programs each year until 2034. The city’s general fund supports most core city services, including police and fire protection. The money would have gone to nonprofits or city departments that serve youth.
The mayor introduced a counter proposal to Measure G in February.
His version would require the city to spend 20 percent of its year-over-year revenue growth on youth programs and services. In a good economy, that figure could exceed $12 million, Mayor Darrell Steinberg has said. For the next five years, the figure would be about $2.5 million annually, city staff say. That would be on top of what the city already spends on youth, which has increased as the Measure U sales tax revenue rolls in.
The counter proposal will be on the November ballot, the council decided last month in a 7-2 vote with Council members Jay Schenirer and Allen Warren voting against.
The city is currently spending $22.6 million from the general fund, or about 7.6 percent of the unrestricted general fund, on youth programs and services, an analysis by city staff found earlier this year. Proponents of Measure G, including City Councilman Jay Schenirer and Sac Kids First treasurer Jim Keddy, said they believed that figure was inflated because it included some items they did not think were truly youth services.
Staff updated that figure to slightly reduce it to $21.6 million, city spokesman Tim Swanson said.
Steinberg said his version would give the city more flexibility as it faces sharply rising pension payments in the coming years and a $21 million deficit in the fiscal year starting July 1, 2021.
“I oppose Measure G because it would jeopardize key elements of our plans for the city, namely our drive to build more affordable housing, fund homeless services and revitalize our neighborhoods,” Steinberg wrote in a letter some voters received last month. The letter was signed by the Sacramento Area Firefighters; the library director; chair of the Parks and Community Enrichment Commission; and City Council members Angelique Ashby and Jeff Harris.
The mailer was funded by a PAC the firefighters started to oppose the measure. Former Mayors Heather Fargo and Jimmie Yee also opposed the measure.
This story was originally published March 3, 2020 at 8:31 PM.
