Rocklin Council approves South Placer Transportation Sales Tax Expenditure Plan

After much deliberation Tuesday night, Rocklin City Council voted in support of the proposed South Placer District Transportation Sales Tax Expenditure Plan. The decision is in accordance with those of Roseville, Colfax and Loomis. Lincoln and Auburn, as well as the Placer County Board of Supervisors, will also address the issue. A countywide transportation sales tax ballot measure was on the ballot in 2016 and failed by just two percent, according to Placer County Transportation Planning Agency executive director Mike Luken. Where it fell short was in the areas of Penryn to Lake Tahoe and Granite Bay, Luken told Gold Country Media. Since 95 percent of the work intended through the measure would fall into south Placer, an area which overwhelmingly voted in favor of the tax, Placer County Transportation Planning Agency decided to try again, this time asking the State Assembly to pass legislation for a special district within the county. Placer County was joined by Solano and San Diego counties also asking for special districts. The State Assembly passed AB 1413, approving those special districts and the bill was signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in October, 2019. This allows for a special district to be set up for collecting transportation use taxes and implementing funds received for only the southern portion of Placer County if a sales tax ballot measure passes with voters. The potential sales tax originally was to include four incorporated cities, Rocklin, Lincoln, Roseville and Loomis. However, in January, 2020, while polling of voters in Rocklin, Lincoln and Roseville still revealed voter support for the district's potential transportation sales tax measure, the town of Loomis fell short. At this point, potential taxation would only include Rocklin, Lincoln and Roseville and would mostly benefit those cities as well. However, freeway and roadway work does benefit the entire county, Luken told the Rocklin council. A conservative estimate is that the measure could bring in approximately $1.2 billion in sales tax through the three cities involved, during a 30-year period, for transportation funds. The hope is that the district could then apply for additional state and federal matching funds. The Placer County Transportation Planning Agency recommends that an annual amount of $750,000 in local transportation funds be divided among Colfax, Loomis, Auburn and unincorporated areas of the county, even though those communities will not participate in bringing in the transportation tax dollars. This could allow enough funds to accommodate one smaller annual project for each of those cities, Luken said. Rocklin staff recommended council approve the Transportation Expenditure Plan. Councilman Bill Halldin moved that council do so but with a few small changes. Those changes included omitting the $750,000 annual allocation for the three cities as well as the unincorporated areas of the county not collecting the tax. Councilman Joe Patterson said he wasn't sure about supporting any sales tax. Patterson is concerned about raising taxes "in this environment where we are entering an uncertain economic future." While the Placer County Transportation Planning Agency is taking a "slow and methodical" approach to working toward the transportation sales tax measure during the COVID-19 crisis, it does not have too much time. The county, Auburn and Lincoln will all address the issue in the next few weeks, while Placer County Transportation Planning Agency continues to address the measure during its monthly meetings. A final voter's poll in Rocklin, Lincoln and Roseville is expected to take place in early June. The Board of Supervisors will have final approval of adding the measure to the November 2020 ballot and must do so by the end of July.