League of Women Voters of California Education Fund
	Monterey County, CA November 4, 2008 Election
	Measure Z Investment Plan for Monterey County Transportation County of Monterey 2/3 Approval Required Fail: 77,137 / 62.55% Yes votes ...... 46,182 / 37.45% No votes See Also: Index of all Measures

Arguments For Measure Z

Arguments Against Measure Z

Vote "yes" on Measure Z for improved roads, more jobs and environmental protection - with taxpayer safeguards. Now is the time to improve our roads! Our streets are falling apart - Measure Z will pay for each city and the County to fill potholes and repair roads. We need safer roads - Measure Z will fund safety and congestion relief improvements on major transportation corridors, including Highways 1, 101, 68 and 156. These local dollars will help us get our fair share of state and federal money to fix our roads. Now is the time to bring jobs to Monterey County! Measure Z is a $1 billion investment that will boost our regional economy while removing traffic bottlenecks. Traffic congestion makes it more expensive to get our fresh produce to market. Visitors who sit in traffic won't return soon to Monterey County. Commuters waste many dollars an hour in gridlock. Measure Z will put thousands of people to work building road improvements. Now is the time to make transportation more environmentally friendly! Alternatives to driving are important. Measure Z will provide funding for Monterey-Salinas Transit to increase bus service for seniors, persons with disabilities, students and commuters. Measure Z will pay for sidewalks, bikeways and "smart growth" projects so we can safely walk or bike to school and work. Measure Z has an innovative program, created in consultation with land conservation groups, to preserve sensitive habitat. Measure Z's investment plan has strong taxpayer safeguards, including annual independent financial audits and a strong citizens' oversight committee. That's why the Monterey Peninsula Taxpayer's Association supports Measure Z. Join community leaders, your neighbors, all twelve City Councils and the five County Supervisors in endorsing this plan. Fix our roads - Vote Yes on Measure Z! /s/Leon E. Panetta Former Member of Congress, Central Coast /s/Dennis Donohue Mayor, City of Salinas /s/Julie Packard Executive Director, Monterey Bay Aquarium /s/Dave Potter Monterey County Supervisor, District 5 /s/Ron Pasquinelly President, Monterey Peninsula Taxpayers Association Rebuttal to Arguments For Vote "no" on TAMC's Measure Z... a 25-year tax hike with a spending plan that offers Zero improvement overall, and would make some traffic problems worse according to TAMC's own reports. TAMC's Measure Z also: 1. Places jobs at risk by increasing tax rates; 2. Includes pork-barrel spending; and 3. Has no taxpayer protection or guarantee of matching funds. These reasons and more, responsible taxpayer groups are opposed to TAMC's Measure Z. Measure Z is flawed with no guarantee other than higher tax rates in a bait and switch scheme. Taxpayers are already paying taxes for transportation needs: Property taxes and the "gas tax" are examples of taxes that city and county governments take for road, sidewalk and environmental improvements. TAMC is already taking taxes for public transportation services. Measure Z has no taxpayer protection: No one is held responsible if money is spent badly and voters cannot elect or remove members from the board or committees. TAMC had a better plan to fund traffic improvements that they abandoned for Measure Z. The former plan was equitable and only lacked taxpayer protection. Now they want taxpayers to pay nearly everything with Measure Z with no taxpayer protection. Measure Z would reward TAMC with a "blank check" for poor performance. After 15 years, TAMC has done little more than propose higher tax rates while spending millions of dollars on inflated administrative salaries and for more bureaucrats. Vote NO on Measure Z ! For more information: http://svtu.org/measure-z.html /s/Annemarie E. Tresch Salinas Valley Taxpayers Union /s/Rita Dalessio Resident, Carmel Valley /s/Douglas M. Kasunich Contractor /s/Marit Evans Resident, Corral de Tierra /s/Janet Martella Fay Rancher

Vote "no" on Measure Z... it's a 25-year tax hike with a spending plan that offers Zero improvement overall, and would make some traffic problems worse according to TAMC's own reports. Taxpayers are already paying taxes to fund transportation needs. The "gas tax" is an example of such a tax for state and local governments. Measure Z would increase the sales tax rate county-wide for 25 years to fund most of TAMC's flawed billion dollar spending plan. A billion dollars is about $2,400 per capita. Can you afford to pay more? With the cost of living and tax rates rising faster than pay, TAMC is out-of-touch with reality by proposing a tax hike in these hard times. TAMC had a better plan to fund traffic improvements, which they abandoned for Measure Z. The former plan involved hospitality and agricultural business and land developers to contribute in addition to small tax for everyone to pay. Now they want taxpayers to pay almost everything with Measure Z while the others pay little or nothing at all. Measure Z is a step in the wrong direction. If TAMC is to serve a useful purpose, it needs to improve traffic congestion overall without taking more from taxpayers. After 15 years and a tax-supported budget that has grown to the size of a city, TAMC still mismanages traffic issues, like special events, which continue to get worse. Can you trust them with more of your money? No. TAMC can do better, but they won't have to unless you vote "no" on Measure Z. /s/Mike Weaver Fort Ord Community Advisory Committee Member /s/Jan Mitchell Representative Prunedale Neighbors Group /s/William G. Theyskens Chair, Prunedale Preservation Alliance /s/Neil Agron Chair, Transportation Committee - Ventana Chapter - Sierra Club Eugene L. Lee Chairman Seaside Taxpayer Association Rebuttal to Arguments Against The individuals against Measure Z think our broken transportation system is just fine and would do nothing. We know that improvements are needed! The gas tax has been 36¢ a gallon since 1997, while construction costs have doubled. It does not raise enough to maintain our roads or transit service. Without local funds, vital projects will be delayed for decades or will not happen. The State won't help us out - we must help our local economy and ourselves. Under this plan, everyone benefits and everyone pays their fair share. Measure Z will raise $980 million over 25 years - equal to only $44 per person/year. Tourists will pay 1/3 of Measure Z. Growth will pay for its impacts under newly-adopted countywide development fees. Hospitality already contributes millions in hotel taxes and agriculture pays vehicle weight fees. You can trust "them" with your money. The plan is 32 pages long, locks in projects and a timetable, creates a citizens oversight committee, requires annual reports and is supported by the Monterey Peninsula Taxpayers Association which opposed the 3 previous measures. Read the details in your voter information pamphlet. Experienced transportation planners and engineers prepared the plan, with environmental groups, community organizations, agriculture and business leaders, and the taxpayers association. Measure Z is an investment in our future. Now is the time to repair roads, remove traffic bottlenecks, improve safety and access for emergency responders, and increase bus service. Vote YES on Measure Z. Let's fix our roads. /s/Chris Orman Chief, North County Fire District /s/Steven Webster President, Elkhorn Slough Foundation /s/Vince Lopez President, SVAP /s/Cesar Lara Executive Director, Monterey-Salinas Transit /s/Carl Sedoryk General Manager, Monterey-Salinas Transit

Full Text of Measure Z

To See Full Text of Measure