Council places 1¢ sales-tax reauthorization on November ballot to close structural deficit

City Chief Financial Officer Scott Wagner and Communications Officer Misty Wood presented the results of community engagement and the city’s five‑year financial forecast, concluding the general-fund has an ongoing structural imbalance (roughly $14M in out-year shortfalls) after multiple personnel and program cuts over the prior three years. Wagner told the council that Santa Rosa currently retains 1.75¢ of the sales-tax dime and that raising the City’s general transaction-and-use tax to 1¢ (replacing the existing 0.5¢ Measure Q) would generate an estimated $46 million annually, approximately $23 million more than current receipts.

Misty Wood summarized a bilingual outreach campaign (Let’s Talk Santa Rosa) with roughly 2,400 community survey respondents; staff reported that 55% of respondents said they definitely or probably would vote yes on a reauthorization framed as maintaining current core services (fire, 911/EMS, police violent‑crime response, streets/parks, homeless‑encampment response). Council members repeatedly asked staff to emphasize that the reauthorization is intended to maintain existing services and to note that staff had already pursued many budget actions (80 fewer FTEs in the general fund, business-license and TOT increases, CalPERS liability repayment actions) before proposing a citywide sales tax increase.

After public testimony (labor unions, firefighters, housing advocates, residents), the council voted to introduce an ordinance to replace the city’s current voter‑approved 0.5¢ general sales tax with a 1¢ rate until ended by the voters and adopted a resolution to place the reauthorization on the November 3, 2026 ballot; motions passed on recorded votes (each 6–0). The measure includes accountability language (audits, public disclosure, local control) and requires a simple majority (50% + 1) to pass.