City budget part 4: A Measure U Perspective
TL;DR: unsurprisingly, Measure U funds are disproportionately being spent on policing INSTEAD OF solutions that would actually help to solve our housing and homelessness crisis. We STILL desperately need metrics around how Measure U funds are being spent, AND they should be easily accessible to the public!
Highlights from this article:
In the 2024/25 budget we allocated $28M for community response and another $3M for homelessness from the Measure U fund - not only is this not enough money, but the amount of money that would be “enough” will continue to climb unless we invest in permanent solutions, i.e. housing and jobs
$7.4M is being allocated to a “police hiring pipeline”, which is $2M MORE than the money allocated for affordable housing
Money coming in from the Measure U tax gets allocated to the entire City’s General Fund, and because of that, it can be very difficult to sort out what spending is coming from the Measure U fund specifically
The performance of every dollar spent should be easily searchable by the public, but when we look at the budget to review it, the fact of the matter is we are given very few statistics, and more just a subjective summary of what the money has been spent on
In the face of the continual let downs from our City government - if you feel drawn to - we encourage you to look for organizations/groups where you can find people who share your values and work collaboratively to build a world we can all thrive in (short list of orgs at the bottom of this write-up)
This piece examines the City budget from the perspective of Teddy Georgeoff, III, Measure U Community Advisory Committee member
ICYMI: Measure U is a sales tax passed in 2012 (as a half cent tax) and increased in 2018 to a full cent. Measure U is a general tax, and the revenue it produces goes in the City’s General Fund and can be used for any municipal purpose. The Measure U Advisory Committee is the oversight body for the 1cent sales & use tax levied on all purchases related to the City of Sacramento. The funds generated from this tax are supposed to be used to “restore essential City services that had been cut or scaled back since 2008, including those provided by Sacramento fire, police, parks and libraries.”
Teddy named that in the 2024/25 budget we allocated $28M for community response and another $3M for homelessness from the Measure U fund (not the city budget as a whole), and that not only is this not enough money, but the amount of money that would be “enough” will continue to climb unless we invest in permanent solutions, i.e. housing and jobs.
He continued to say that allocating $31M to bandaid solutions (community response & homelessness funding combined) rather than permanent solutions - only 2% ($5.4M) of Measure U funds are allocated towards affordable housing - will not address the problems the Sacramento community is facing, and will not bring down costs over time. While investing in programs like the Department of Community Response is very important, Teddy does not see this as the correct path forward for creating long-lasting solutions to our housing and homelessness crisis. We would have to agree.
He shared one particularly upsetting piece of information - the fact that Measure U funding is not only being allocated to a “police hiring pipeline”, but that the allocation for the program is $2M MORE than the money allocated for affordable housing. As is true of seemingly every police program we fund, there are no statistics regarding this program’s efficacy. This is in contrast to affordable housing, something our community desperately needs, and that has many documented examples of successful implementation.
Teddy states:
“The performance of every dollar spent should be easily searchable by the public, but when we look at the budget to review it, the fact of the matter is we are given very few statistics, and more just a subjective summary of what the money has been spent on. For example, IF we are going to spend $7.4M on a hiring pipeline, we better be able to know how many officers were hired from it”
One important reminder Teddy shared is that money coming in from the Measure U tax gets allocated to the entire City’s General Fund, and because of that, it can be very difficult to sort out what spending is coming from the Measure U fund specifically. Because of this, as the City spends money, it’s not necessarily tracking or attributing that spending to Measure U (spending is accounted for at the end of each fiscal year, but should also be tracked throughout the year). That’s a real problem because it means that funds from Measure U are often not used in the ways that they were originally intended for. The lack of transparency regarding Measure U funding allocations is not new, and is in fact something the Advisory Committee has repeatedly tried to address.
Teddy explains an example how misleading budget numbers - or lack thereof - can be:
“This [lack of clarity around spending] also creates the effect of “oh look, MU only spent 2% of its budget on affordable housing” which is true, but that does not mean the city spent 2% of its budget on affordable housing. In fact if you look at the city as a whole, it’s closer to 0.36%”
One final quote from Teddy, this time regarding the City’s deficit:
“The fact we did not commit money to our rainy day fund is a big problem. It’s a bad way to fix the money shortage, and gives the impression our county is struggling to investors. I know things are tough, so a one time action like this is fine, but let’s not make it a pattern”
Some closing thoughts on the City budget
The 2024/25 City budget is…disappointing to say the least. We’re so relieved that funding for the RydeFreeRT program was restored (read more about that saga), but we also hear how challenging the added cost will be for school districts. Thank you to all the community members, organizations, and Councilmembers who fought to keep this program alive.
The City Council's choice to give the police yet another raise, yet another record high budget, continuing their ongoing campaign to fund law enforcement and criminalization instead of funding ways to keep our community safe, housed, and provided for, is another example of the empty promises they make to Sacramento residents. Thank you again to Councilmembers Vang and Valenzuela for voting against this budget and again calling out the entirely disproportionate amount of funding sent to the SPD. Thank you to the members of the Measure U Community Advisory Committee for continuing to fight for Measure U funds to be allocated to community care and programs that meet the needs of our most vulnerable communities.
In the face of the continual let downs from our City government - if you feel drawn to - we encourage you to look for organizations/groups where you can find people who share your values and work collaboratively to build a world we can all thrive in. There is power in collective mobilization, and that’s true whether or not you’re directly engaging with our local government. As always, we will strive to continue providing you with information on important decisions coming out of City Hall.
Here are a couple lists (not comprehensive) of orgs doing good work in the Sacramento area!
Some local organizations working to shift our community away from the criminal punishment system (in alphabetical order):
Anti Police-Terror Project, Sacramento chapter; @aptpsac
If you’re interested in mutual aid and building systems of care within our local community (in alphabetical order):
Community Movement Builders (CMB) Neighbor Program; @cmb.neighborprogram
Democratic Socialists of America, Sacramento Chapter; @sac_dsa
Mobilize for Mental Health; @mobilize4mentalhealth
Sunrise Movement, Sacramento Chapter; @sunrisemvmtsac
Tortuguita Community Pantry; @tortuguitacommunitypantry
The Awkward Gardner (TAG) Community Table; @tagcommunitytable
