If Redding voters see fit to approve a half-cent sales tax hike to bolster police and firefighter ranks and increase jail capacity—which in of itself is a pretty big ‘if’ at this point—it will require some trust in the electorate that the tax revenues will be spent exclusively on improving public safety.
The last effort at a public-safety tax hike, 2016’s Measure D, flopped at the polls with only 37 percent of the vote, 14 percent short of the simple majority required. In addition to voters opposed to tax hikes for any reason, many pointed to a lack of trust in the City Council when explaining their dissenting votes.
For this go-round, to help build that trust, the city is again offering a companion advisory measure that asks voters “should the additional revenue be used to enhance and maintain adequate police and fire protection and related public safety services, and to augment jail space and mental health services?”
Additionally, the proposed tax-hike ordinance requires formation of a five-member citizens committee to review, on an annual basis, all revenue and expenditures associated with the half-cent sales tax. The ordinance also requires an independent audit be performed yearly with the results reported to the council and the community. “Citizen oversight of expenditures of the tax revenue will be critical,” City Manager Barry Tippin notes in his report to the council.
At its Tuesday meeting, the City Council is scheduled to vote on whether to declare a fiscal emergency. Such a declaration, which requires a unanimous 5-0 vote, is needed to put the tax-hike question on the June 5 ballot. If the fiscal emergency declaration vote fails, the public safety tax measure won’t be before voters until the Nov. 6 general election.
A half-cent tax hike would generate an estimated $11.2 million a year for the 10-year life of the increase. A five-month delay would cost the city between $3 million and $5 million in lost revenue, Tippin said. At the council’s Feb. 20 meeting, four council members supported putting the question on Tuesday night’s agenda, while Councilman Adam McElvain cast the lone dissenting vote.
McElvain said he’s not opposed to putting a tax hike measure on the ballot, but he called the fiscal emergency declaration “a pill I can’t swallow.” McElvain said he does not want to see Redding suffer the public relations hit such a declaration would cause. “It sends a message of failure,” McElvain said, and it will discourage investment in the city and make it harder to hire police officers and firefighters into lateral positions.
If McElvain position hasn’t changed during the past two weeks, the public safety tax-hike question will be an academic one, at least as far as the June ballot is concerned.
Retail recreational pot
Also on Tuesday’s council docket is a potential vote on a long-awaited ordinance setting up the rules for the cultivation, manufacture, distribution, testing, storage and retail sale of both medical and recreational marijuana.
The ordinance drafted by City Attorney Barry DeWalt follows regulations already imposed by the state of California regarding advertising, packaging and health warnings. As per state law, all packaging must reflect the THC content and edible cannabis products cannot exceed 10 milligrams of THC per serving.
Additionally, all pot and cannabis products need to be labeled and placed in resealable, tamper-evident and child-resistant packaging. Warning labels must be affixed providing notice to keep the product out of the reach of children and further warn that smoking cannabis while pregnant or breastfeeding may be harmful, and cannabis impairs the ability to drive and operate machinery.
Changes to the draft ordinance suggested by Terri Hosler, branch director of the Shasta County Health and Human Services Agency, have been included in a separate letter. In his report to the council, DeWalt said Hosler’s suggestions have not been incorporated into the ordinance since they require “a higher regulatory burden than that imposed by the State.”
Under terms of the ordinance, no cannabis business can operate in Redding unless it has been licensed by the city and the state. Persons seeking a license will have to comply with some “rigorous” disclosures, DeWalt said. “The draft ordinance requires disclosure with regard to the finances of the applicant, the identity of its ownership, and the identity of any persons making a significant investment in the applicant.
“Applicants may be disqualified if they, or their investors, have disqualifying criminal convictions. They may likewise be disqualified if they have prior enforcement action related to cannabis activity in this, or another, community or have any unpaid civil judgment or administrative fines,” DeWalt wrote.
Retail pot shops must be located 1,000 feet from schools, parks, libraries and youth-oriented facilities; all other cannabis businesses must be at least 600 feet away from the same. A proposal to prohibit cannabis businesses within the downtown core will be addressed when the Downtown Specific Plan comes before the council.
There can be no more than 10 retail shops in the city limits, and the city manager is in charge of the process of selecting retailers.
“The City Manager is tasked with establishing criteria to be used in the consideration of retailer applications. These may include, but are not limited to, financial solvency, demonstrated business acumen and professionalism, consideration of the design of the retail premises to include its exterior and proposed location of the business premises. These requirements allow for flexibility in addressing cannabis retailer concentration issues and concerns about blight. The underlying goal is to license only those who demonstrate business acumen, sound professional ethics and demonstrate a history of compliance with the law,” DeWalt wrote.
Non-retail cannabis businesses are permitted in industrial areas. Cannabis cultivation is allowed in heavy commercial areas, but only with a use permit. Pot retailers are allowed in commercial areas with the exception of areas zoned as Neighborhood Commercial.
The draft ordinance only permits cannabis delivery by retailers licensed by the city.
“In closing, the draft ordinance is intended to permit but fairly regulate the cannabis industry. It attempts to draw an appropriate balance so that the unregulated cannabis activity which we know is occurring in the City of Redding is lessened and brought to a regulated state,” DeWalt wrote.
Tuesday’s meeting begins at 6 p.m.
