This is the last article in a four-part series on local measures on the November ballot. For the first article on Measure A, the Lucerne Elementary School District bond, and Measure B, which would raise South Lake County Fire Protection District's appropriations limit, see www.bit.ly/2dL1ycX . For the second article on Measure C, the cannabis cultivation tax, and Measure Q, the Yuba and Woodland Community College bond reauthorization, visit www.bit.ly/2ekJHuY . For part three, on Clearlake's Measure V road sales tax and measures X, which would convert the city treasurer and city clerk posts, respectively, from elected to appointed positions, see: www.bit.ly/2eowWj9 .
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – This November, voters in the Konocti Unified School District are being asked to approve a school bond for continuing improvements to the expanding and popular programs being offered at the district, while in Lakeport voters must decide whether to approve a one-cent sales tax measure to expand road repair and city public safety programs.
Measure Y: Improving, expanding facilities at Konocti Unified School District
Big things are happening at Konocti Unified, the largest school district by size in Lake County.
Over the last decade, facilities have been upgraded or new ones built, and new and successful programs rolled out that have drawn hundreds of new students.
Now, to fund the district's continuing needs, voters are being asked to approve Measure Y, a $29.6 million bond which must pass by 55 percent of the vote.
It's estimated that the bond will cost $59.50 per $100,000 assessed value on an annual basis through the 2022-23 fiscal year. Total debt service, including principal and interest, is estimated at $62.8 million.
The Konocti Unified School District Board voted on June 1 to put the measure before voters.
According to the language of Measure Y's ballot statement, it would “improve the quality of local school facilities; repair or replace leaky roofs; construct new science labs; provide updated career technical classrooms for job training; renovate deteriorating plumbing and sewer systems, make health, safety and handicapped accessibility improvements; and upgrade, modernize, construct and renovate classrooms, restrooms, and school facilities.”
Superintendent Donna Becnel said priority projects would include additional classrooms at Konocti Education Center and Lower Lake High School, and expanding and modernizing the Lower Lake Elementary multipurpose room.
Designs of the new classrooms at Konocti Education Center and the high school call for them to be two-story, with a lot of windows and light, and they would be energy efficient and have solar panels. Becnel said the district doesn't currently have solar, which would be part of the proposed upgrades.
Much of the need for the bond arises from the district's success at attracting and keeping students. While other districts around the county have reported declining enrollment, Konocti Unified is bucking that trend, according to Becnel.
“We've grown over 300 kids in the last three years,” she said, with enrollment districtwide now nearly at 3,400 students.
She attributes the growth in numbers to children whose families have moved to the area, as well as students transferring from other districts to study at Konocti Education Center.
Becnel said the center has two programs, a school for the arts for fourth through eighth grades, and a medical magnet high school, from seventh grade through 12th grade.
“It's been very popular, and the kids there are just doing phenomenally well,” she said. “We could take in some more students with additional facilities.”
Konocti Education Center is now in its second year, said Becnel. The student enrollment at the time it opened last year was 320, which has since grown to 400.
“We captured some students that were either home-schooled or in private school,” she said.
Ideally, the district wants the enrollment at about 550, which Becnel said would result in enough staffing to offer all of the educational options the center intends to have.
Additionally, Becnel said the district lowered elementary class sizes when the new state funding formula went into effect three years ago, meaning that they needed eight new classrooms right off the bat at Pomo School, Burns Valley School, Lower Lake Elementary and East Lake School.
All of those factors working together means the district is in desperate need of more facilities, Becnel said.
While the school board made the decision to place the bond before voters months before the Clayton fire hit Lower Lake, Becnel said some Measure Y funds will be used to help repair fire damage.
Becnel said the fire did an estimated $1 million in damage to district facilities, primarily at Lower Lake Elementary, where one classroom burned to the ground and four other classrooms sustained “significant damage.”
At Lower Lake High School, a shed containing softball equipment and housing for the pump that waters the athletic fields also were destroyed, Becnel said.
Although the district has insurance that will help fix the fire damage, Becnel said the district intends to not merely replace the damaged portable classrooms but upgrade to modern modular buildings that don't require ramps and have additional classroom space.
Becnel said passage of the bond will help position the district to receive as much as $20 million in additional funds should Proposition 51 – which is on the statewide ballot – also be approved by voters.
She said that the bond also will help create local jobs. “In essence, this bond will be bringing in $29.6 million in construction work,” Becnel said.
“We try to use local contractors when possible. Some of the jobs are larger than our local companies can bid on. If that is the situation, our experience is that our local workers become the subcontractors for the jobs,” she explained.
As with any school bond, Becnel said Measure Y will have a steering/bond oversight committee as well as regular annual audits.
No arguments against the measure have been submitted to the Registrar of Voters Office.
For more information about Measure Y, visit http://konoctiusd.org/measure-y-school-bond .
Measure Z: City of Lakeport aims at road, public safety improvements
On July 19, the Lakeport City Council voted unanimously to place Measure Z, a one-cent sales tax for roads and public services, on the ballot.
The city estimates the sales tax would raise $1.5 million annually, which would be collected by the State Board of Equalization, subject to independent audits and a citizens' oversight committee. All funds would be controlled locally, and could not be taken by the state.
The revenue generated from the sales tax will help replace nearly $1 million annually that the state is taking from Lakeport, which city officials said has hampered their efforts to fully repair neighborhood streets and roads.
Based on the ballot measure's language, the annual proceeds would be used “to maintain/enhance general City services including: recruiting, hiring, retaining qualified police officers to improve neighborhood patrols, maintain response to property, burglary, violent crimes; paving/repairing local streets/potholes; enhancing business attraction/youth recreational programs; keeping Lakeport’s parks/pool safe and clean.”
To pass, Measure Z – a general tax, the proceeds of which would go into the general fund – needs a simple 50-percent-plus one majority vote.
The city of Lakeport has a current sales tax measure in place, Measure I, passed by voters in November 2004. It generates about $700,000 each year, according to city officials.
Along with Measure I, voters approved the advisory Measure J, a nonbinding measure that suggested that the city use Measure I proceeds for uses including repair and maintenance of city streets, park and community service facilities, and the expansion of public services and programs. The city has kept to those uses, and used the funds to leverage road repairs.
Currently, Lakeport's sales tax rate is 8 percent, which is set to drop by a quarter percent in December when the temporary statewide sales tax enacted through Proposition 30 ends.
If Measure Z passes, by the end of the year Lakeport's sales tax rate would be 8.75 percent. Sales tax does not apply to items like groceries, and city officials have said that visitors to the city will help pay the majority of the tax.
Proposed funding uses include continued and expanded road repairs and assistance in retaining police officers and expanding public safety programs.
Bob Bridges and Hank Porter, who submitted arguments against the tax, allege that the city has “continuously allocated Measure 'I' funds to other purposes,” and it, like Measure Z, has no sunset date.
“Any increase in sales tax should be mainly designated to citywide street restoration and maintenance or our City Council will again not fix your street that is turning to gravel or has pothole patches on top of pothole patches. We can hardly get striping done. Evaluation of conditions of our streets has been done by consultants,” Bridges and Porter wrote.
The measure's opponents said that, “Unless the City Council, makes a firm commitment before the November election, to urgently needed repair and ongoing maintenance of city streets, Measure 'Z' should be rejected.”
When interviewed by Lake County News on Thursday, Bridges maintained his criticism about the handling of Measure I money. When asked if he had requested a list of Measure I funded projects, he said no, but that he had received one in a utility bill from the city.
“I don't believe the money will be spent wisely,” he said of Measure Z.
In the Lakeport Public Works Department, there's no lack of commitment when it comes to trying to keep the city's roads at acceptable levels.
Public Works Superintendent Doug Grider said his small crew takes on a number of paving projects on their own to keep costs down.
Grider understands people's concerns and the aversion to paying new taxes. However, he said he takes exception to the suggestion by some that the city has somehow mishandled its money or that he and his crew aren't doing their very best to keep Lakeport in the best shape possible.
“We're running on a shoestring,” he said, adding that it's important to his staff that they give the community what it wants it return for its support.
He called it “baloney” that any Measure I money has gone to things like staff salaries or raises, adding that staff haven't had raises – or cost of living increases – in seven years.
Grider said the days of relying on the state and federal government to come through with road funding are over. In fact, the state is now taking Highway Users Tax Account funds, which are related to gas tax money.
“There money is not there to take care of your town,” which is why finding other revenue sources – that the state can't raid – is important, he said.
He explained that not only is Lakeport facing continual challenges with revenue, but that the cost of building and maintaining roads is higher than ever – and it only continues to grow, for many reasons.
Grider said each road project has its own specific costs based on the road's conditions and what repairs need to be made.
As an example, he pointed to the recently repaved Bevins Street, where it cost about $413,000 for 2,400 feet of repaving.
The project included placing a fabric material on the roadway surface to spread the pneumatic pressure of tires on the pavement, paving over that fabric and striping the roadway. Grider said it didn't include curb, gutter and sidewalk, and drainage improvements.
“That is just to fix the roadway,” he said.
It's the pneumatic pressure that breaks down the pavement. Grider explained that the weight of vehicles transfers from the tire to a small area of the pavement. The pavement, in turn, is flexible to a point, and is like a hydraulic jack, going up and down.
Grider said it's that flexing that leads to potholes and failures in the pavement surface, thus the use of the fabric to spread out the pressure of the tires, lessening the pumping and reflexive cracking. The whole purpose, he added, is longer asphalt life.
He said pavement repair and replacement isn't as easy as it seems. Just pouring asphalt over existing cracks only leads to more cracks and damage, which is why more in-depth – and expensive – repairs are necessary.
Grider explained different cost factors impacting public roadway repair, from sales tax costs to the rarity of certain materials.
Granite Construction was the low bidder on the Bevins Street project, with the second bidder coming in at $462,000, Grider said.
The nearly $50,000 difference in price between the two companies had to do with the fact that Granite makes its own asphalt in a plant on Highway 175 between Lakeport and Hopland, and so it doesn't pay sales tax on the asphalt. The other company's higher price included that sales tax cost, according to Grider.
In other words, even when buying materials to fix its streets, the city of Lakeport must pay a sales tax of 8 percent to the state, Grider explained.
Then there is the matter of prevailing wage, which the city must pay to contractors on construction projects. He said that higher labor cost generally is based on union rates. Plus, government regulations have added a lot of costs to overlay projects.
Asphalt oil – which is not the same as the oil used for gas, diesel and kerosene – also is getting harder to find and therefore more expensive. Grider said the industry hasn't yet found a good replacement for it. Rubberized asphalt is increasing being used – such as on Highway 29 in a Caltrans project a few years ago – but Grider said it can be very hard to work with.
“Paving,” he said, “is a real art.”
And Grider maintains that the city is very fortunate to have a three-man crew like his that does “a pretty darn good job.” That crew does the majority of paving projects in the city when possible. However, due to the crew's small size, that's becoming more of a challenge.
As is the funding. Bevins Street, said Grider, was “the last gasp of our funding,” and not much else is now lined up as a result.
Because of that, two major projects are being delayed: a double chip seal on 11th Street, the funds for which were transferred to the Bevins project, and S. Main Street from Lakeport Boulevard to the city limits, Grider said. Those are two of the city's best streets, and they're starting to fail.
One project that is expected to go forward is the placement of a new water main and paving on Giselman Street, where both the water main and the pavement are failing. Grider said that work is expected to begin in the spring, when temperatures are warmer. It will have to be completed with general fund money.
Over the past eight years, the city has budgeted $15,000 annually to make accessibility upgrades throughout Lakeport, which Grider said has been “huge.” But that money also hasn't been budgeted this year due to fiscal constraints.
Measure Z, said Grider, would definitely result in more road work, and allow the city a mechanism to increase funding as it tries to meet the continually rising cost of doing business.
“You have to do less and less every single year,” he said.
Grider has been with the city since 2004, shortly before Measure I was passed. He said the allegations of Measure I being misused are simply wrong, adding that he takes the responsibility of handling taxpayer money very seriously. As such, he said the city implemented programs to make those dollars as far as they would go. That included purchasing a paver and grinder to do projects in-house.
For those who don't think that the city has used Measure I money wisely, Grider points to the fact that the city's pavement condition index went from 34 in 2007 to 40 in 2015, despite several years of challenging recession conditions. That's all a result of staff completing projects in-house.
“To me, that's unbelievable,” he said, adding that Measure I money kept the city's road projects going.
He added, “The people that work here care,” and they try hard to be proactive.
If Measure Z is approved, there is a long list of streets where projects would be pursued. It also will likely be used to fund projects at Library Park, where work needs to be done on the inside of the seawall and the main walkway out to the docks needs to be replaced, and Grider would like to do another bathroom project.
New docks that recently went in at the park, he said, came from Measure I money.
Grider emphasized that the city has done everything it can to stretch its dollars, and now they've reached the point where they've gone as far as they can, despite their efforts to be prudent and fiscally responsible.
Paving roads and keeping parks open is the key focus, he said.
“That's what we're down to talking about now,” Grider said.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.