Board debates how to pay for proposed sheriff’s headquarters; sales tax, TOT and Measure M among options

Mariposa County leaders spent much of an April 15 meeting laying out how to pay roughly $49 million for a proposed consolidated sheriff’s headquarters, weighing sales-tax and lodging-tax increases against redirected Measure M funds and other blends of financing.

County Administrative Officer Joe Lynch told the Board that outside developers and lenders typically require a long-term guarantee before they will commit to a project of this size. “We need to have surety of funds,” he said, explaining private investors see high risk in Mariposa because there is limited commercial demand for large buildings if government tenants depart.

That risk drives the financing conversation. Lynch and staff presented five scenarios to generate roughly $3.5 million a year in lease/rent-equivalent payments that would be needed to support construction: 1) a 0.5 percentage-point sales-tax increase combined with retaining the current Measure M allocation; 2) a 0.5-point sales-tax increase plus a 1% TOT increase; 3) reworking Measure M together with a 1% TOT increase; 4) a 2% TOT…