Budget and Audit Committee Special Meeting: Measure U Extension and Inclusive Growth Policy - June 12, 2018
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Budget and Audit Committee Special Meeting: Measure U Extension and Inclusive Growth Policy - June 12, 2018
The Budget and Audit Committee, chaired by Mayor Darrell Steinberg, met on June 12, 2018, to discuss a proposed ballot measure to extend and expand Measure U (a half-cent transactions and use tax) for the November 2018 general election, and to review a resolution on inclusive economic growth. The committee unanimously approved forward motions on all three agenda items, including an amendment to require an annual gender and diversity audit.
Consent Calendar
- Item 1: City Auditor's Activity Report for Q3 FY2017/18 – Accepted and forwarded to City Council. The committee amended the recommendation to add an annual gender and diversity audit, requested by Councilmember Ashby and seconded by Councilmember Jennings. The city auditor confirmed capacity to produce this annually. Motion passed 4–0.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Chris Lodgson (District 5 resident, creator of SAC Black Biz) spoke on Item 3. He offered his platform as a resource for technical assistance to Black-owned businesses and proposed establishing community advisory councils to let neighborhoods decide how future Measure U funds would be allocated. He reported that SAC Black Biz has assisted over 300 businesses.
Discussion Items
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Item 2: Proposed Ballot Measure on Extension of Measure U – Staff presented a request for direction to draft an ordinance extending the transactions and use tax (currently half-cent, set to expire). The committee heard extensive statements from members:
- Councilmember Ashby: Stressed that renewal is essential to avoid returning to pre-Measure U service cuts (e.g., fire station brownouts, loss of police officers). She noted that a straight renewal would still require cuts due to rising costs; expansion is needed to maintain services.
- Councilmember Jennings: Emphasized that the city has not recovered from the 1,300 FTE cuts made during the recession, and that additional revenue is critical to support parks, libraries, youth programs, and public safety.
- Councilmember Schenirer: Called for focusing on long-term investments in job creation, housing, workforce development, and youth—not just immediate program funding. He requested patience from community groups as priorities are set.
- Mayor Steinberg: Argued that expanding Measure U is not a choice but a necessity to address systemic poverty, the housing crisis, and to build an inclusive economy. He highlighted polling showing public support for intentional investment in workforce preparation and neighborhood equity. The committee directed staff to bring back a draft ordinance and ballot language at the June 26 meeting for a one-cent transaction and use tax with no expiration. Motion passed 4–0.
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Item 3: Policy Resolution for Inclusive and Equitable Economic Growth (Project Prosper) – Doreen Hackler presented findings from a yearlong community engagement process including five community meetings (over 300 attendees, half first-time city meeting participants) and a working group with national advisors. Key data points:
- Sacramento has 81% of jobs in firms with 1–4 employees (vs. 60% nationally).
- Poverty rate is increasing; 13 census tracts have fallen into concentrated poverty (>30% below poverty line) since 1970, and no tracts have left concentrated poverty.
- Community polling showed top priorities: free community college tuition, internships/apprenticeships, small business technical assistance, and affordable housing (46% of place-based votes). The resolution outlines principles for strengthening people, business, and place capacity. The committee voted to forward the resolution to City Council. Hackler also noted a second report on neighborhood-based economic development strategies due by end of June. Motion passed 4–0.
Key Outcomes
- Item 1: Motion passed 4–0 to accept the auditor's report as amended to include an annual gender and diversity audit.
- Item 2: Motion passed 4–0 directing staff to draft an ordinance and ballot language for a one-cent permanent extension of Measure U, to be reviewed at the June 26 committee meeting and then forwarded to City Council on July 31.
- Item 3: Motion passed 4–0 to forward the inclusive economic growth resolution to City Council for consideration.
- The committee also requested a more detailed presentation on city efficiency improvements since Measure U at the June 26 meeting.
Meeting Transcript
Good morning, everyone. The City Council's budget and audit committee will come to order. Let's call the role, please, and establish a quorum. Thank you. Councilmember Ashby. Councilmember Jennings. Council Member Shane. Here. Thank you. Yes. Yeah, Mayor, I have one concern about the audit schedule, and I I mentioned this to Jorge, and I wanted to bring it up to the budget and audit committee. Originally, when we um started uh doing the gender and diversity audit, we combined them and we wanted it to be annual. It is not currently listed as something annual for him to take a look at. And so we need to add that in so that we do look at that on an annual basis. Many of the findings in there around diversity and around equity rely on us taking a look every year on an annual basis. Well, that's very good. I agree with you. So does that take a formal action or is it just a sense of the committee? I think it takes this committee's commitment to him for him to prioritize it. So do you think we want to put that in the form of a motion or I would love to amend the staff's recommendation to accept this item? Yeah. Okay. Any any comments, Mr. Otter? Okay. Come on up to the mic, sir. Mr. Manager, you have any uh concerns or comments or only that we're on the verge of hiring a diversity and equity manager, and we would ask that uh we work with the city auditor on providing those updates, because that's the part of the body of work that this position will be performing as well. So we can that's fine, you can incorporate the new version. It builds on itself. So it's the same report that he has produced for two years. Um and obviously looking at it annually allows us to see our progress in those areas. But definitely, like any other department, that would be the central person for him to work with, where previously we kind of figured it out on our own how to how to do the metrics. But I wouldn't want to wait for that individual to come into place. I I definitely want to make sure we keep this going. Counts I started this on gender, then council then Vice Mayor uh Jennings agreed to wed the two, and part of why we agreed to that is because it would be annually. And so we felt like not placing extra burdens on you or doing every other year, and we also wanted to be able to look at the intersection uh between gender and race, and so this has allowed us the opportunity to do that, but in order for it to be effective, it has to be annual. The only thing I would add to that is that you know now that we've been combined with the independent budget analyst um resources, we can use those resources for this particular purpose. And so that project, I would anticipate we would be able to uh produce out of that particular division of our office. So we should have the capacity to do that once we're done staffing up. That sounds great. And then at some point too, rolling in some of the other gender and ethnicity audits that you have done around boards and commissions so that it could just be sort of one piece. Great. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Thank you very much. Okay, so that uh we're gonna move uh Councilmember Ashby moved uh file item one as amended, um, seconded by Councilmember Jennings. All in favor, please say aye. Aye.
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