Measure D, which would levy a new half-cent Santa Cruz County sales tax to fund $17 million a year in transportation improvements, hovered just above the two-thirds margin required for approval this week.
But with thousands of mailed ballots still to be counted, the fate of the measure is likely to be in doubt for the rest of the month.
With 100 percent of voting precincts and an estimated 60 percent of mailed ballots counted, support for the measure to add a half-cent sales tax for a broad range of transportation issues stood at 67.12 percent, just above the two-thirds minimum required for approval.
Measure D would generate approximately $17 million a year. Projects that would be funded by the measure include streets and highways, safety projects to encourage children to walk and bicycle to school, Highway 9 corridor safety improvements, the Highway 17 wildlife undercrossing, new bicycle-pedestrian crossings over Highway 1, transit to prevent additional service cuts, increases in paratransit to serve seniors and people with disabilities, construction and maintenance of the Coastal Rail Trail, and an analysis of transit options for the rail corridor.
Fifth District Supervisor Bruce McPherson, who led the campaign for Measure D, this week thanked its supporters “for saying ‘yes’ to a well-balanced, sustainable transportation measure that will improve our network for everyone from senior citizens and people with disabilities, to bicyclists, pedestrians and motorists..”
“We have a backlog of transportation needs and need to become a ‘self-help county’ with our own revenues to increase our chances to get state and federal grants to address those identified transportation needs,” he said.
The support for Measure D far exceeded a 2004 measure that only garnered 42 percent.
One other county measure that was approved — by more than 80 perent — was a county-wide tax on cannabis businesses.
