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Arroyo Grande council backs countywide transportation expenditure plan; one member votes no
Summary
The Arroyo Grande City Council voted 4'1 to approve the final draft of the countywide Slowcog Transportation Expenditure Plan and to allow Slowcog use of the city logo for outreach. The plan would generate roughly $1.22 million a year for the city under a proposed half-cent sales tax; a parallel citizen initiative seeks signatures to place a similar measure on the ballot.
Arroyo Grande City Council voted Tuesday to endorse the final draft of the San Luis Bispo (Slowcog) Transportation Expenditure Plan, a proposed half-cent county sales tax designed to fund local road maintenance and larger regional projects.
Consultant Kendall Flint of DKS Associates told the council the action before them was not a vote to place a measure on the ballot but rather to approve the plan's content for the local jurisdiction: "You're not being asked to place this on the ballot. You're just being asked to go thumbs up, thumbs down on the plan itself," she said.
If enacted regionwide, the measure is projected to raise about $35 million a year across the county; Arroyo Grande's share would be roughly $1.22 million annually under the proposed allocation formula, Flint said. Slowcog's draft sets aside 40% for regional projects, 4% for mobility services for seniors and disabled veterans and 1% for administration. The consultants told the council the ballot measure would be drafted to preserve the funds for transportation only, and the plan adds citizen oversight and five-year performance assessments to help ensure promised allocations reach South County.
A citizens'initiative group announced at the meeting that it is collecting signatures to qualify a near-identical expenditure plan for the November ballot. "We did form a campaign committee to attempt to collect enough signatures in the county to qualify this for the November ballot by a citizens petition," Eric Justice said during public comment, describing a signature drive organized to require only a simple majority on the ballot rather than the two-thirds approval needed if placed by the board.
Council debate focused on regional protections for South County allocations. Councilmember Guthrie said he remained concerned that, as drafted, regional loans or board-level decisions could move South County funding out of the region and that the citizen oversight committee would not itself prevent such a transfer: "I'm not going to make a big stink of it ... I'm going to be voting no on this tonight," Guthrie said before the vote.
The motion to adopt a resolution approving the Slowcog draft transportation expenditure plan and to authorize Slowcog's use of the city logo passed on roll call, 4 yes, 1 no. The record shows Mayor Pro Tem and three council members voting in favor and Mayor Karen Ray Russell voting no.
What happens next: the plan, having broad jurisdictional approval, would move to the Slowcog board and — if the board proceeds — could be placed on the November ballot. If the citizen initiative gathers sufficient valid signatures, Slowcog staff said the board would likely defer to the initiative process because ballot-qualification rules differ.
Council members and staff said they will continue to monitor the citizen signature drive and work with Slowcog on oversight language and programming guidance should the measure advance.
