Victorville council directs staff to advance 1% sales tax measure to address $865 million infrastructure shortfall

The Victorville City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to direct staff to pursue placement of a proposed 1-cent general sales tax on the November 2026 ballot, after hearing a staff infrastructure assessment that identified roughly $865 million in current needs citywide.

City staff said the study, compiled into a 71-page report, lays out priorities across road repairs, stormwater and drainage, long-term drinking water supplies, public safety facilities and park investments. “In total there's an 865 million dollar need, in infrastructure citywide,” the staff presentation stated.

City staff emphasized that the city's pavement condition index (PCI) sits at 65.7 and that some corridors — including Roy Rogers Road — are in substantially worse shape. The report estimated a present-value cost of about $165 million to raise the citywide PCI to an 80 rating and said current roadway capital of roughly $6.5–7 million per year would produce an annual PCI decline without new revenue. “At our current pace, there's no way to avoid it,” staff said during the presentation.

The proposal the council authorized staff to pursue would be a general-purpose 1% transactions-and-use sales tax. Staff modeling presented several financing scenarios and projected that a 1% measure could generate approximately $541 million (as presented in the analysis) and — under the report's prioritization and financing assumptions — could fund roughly $404 million of prioritized infrastructure investments over a 10-year window.

Public-safety needs were a central element of the presentation. Staff said Measure P (a prior local measure) increased police and fire staffing and improved response times, but the city now faces facility constraints and projected facility costs. Staff described a new police station design estimate of approximately $72 million, with $20 million already set aside from Measure P and an estimated $52 million remaining shortfall. A preliminary standard-of-cover fire analysis found coverage gaps and recommended adding a medic company in station 313 and two new stations (316 at I‑15/Nisqually and 317 on the west end), with combined estimated costs of about $41 million.

Water supply also factored into the case for local revenue: staff said Victorville holds about 26,000 acre‑feet of water rights but operates in an adjudicated basin with limits on free production and a current replacement obligation of roughly 10,000–11,000 acre‑feet that increases the city's dependence on State Water Project purchases. Staff described a reclaimed-water backbone concept to reuse effluent for irrigation and other nonpotable uses with an early two‑phase price tag of about $41 million and no identified funding source today.

The council also heard from FM3, which presented a city-conducted survey of 515 likely November 2026 voters with a ±4.5% margin of error. FM3 reported initial support of 62% yes, 27% no and 11% undecided on a ballot question describing emergency response, safe streets and drinking water as possible uses for revenue. After simulated education messaging and opposition messaging, modeled support stayed in the low- to mid-60s for yes under the scenarios the poll tested.

Councilmembers used the question-and-answer period following the presentations to press staff on details: what the $865 million figure covers (present needs, not growth), the timeline and costs to build new fire stations and a police facility, oversight options (including reusing or expanding a Measure P oversight committee), and whether the measure would be a special tax or a general tax (staff said the tested proposal qualified as a general tax and would require a simple majority to pass).

Councilmember Ervin moved to adopt staff's recommendation to proceed with next steps to place a 1% sales tax measure on the November 2026 ballot; Councilmember Godin seconded. The vote was recorded as unanimous: Councilmember Goedert (yes); Councilmember Ervin (yes); Councilmember Mora (yes); Mayor Pro Tem Heraman (yes); Mayor Becerra (yes). The motion directs staff to begin drafting ballot language, refine the financing scenarios and plan community outreach and legal steps required for placement on the ballot.

What happens next: staff will return with draft ballot and implementation language and with details about proposed oversight, accounting and reporting practices. The presentation emphasized that a future council could shape implementation and that council-level choices about oversight and priorities would follow if voters approve a measure.