Tenessa Audette

Why I am voting No on Measure A

1. BUDGET CRISIS: We have a budget crisis at the City of Redding.
WE DO NOT have a Fire Station crisis or Streets crisis or Police crisis or Parks crisis. The city management made a plan in 2021-2022 to spend money we didn’t have and now federal grant money has run out and the bills are due and they can’t pay. They are asking you for a bail out to maintain the "market rate" pay raises and increased staffing (over 150 new employees) while manufacturing this idea that we have some crisis in all these areas but we don’t. We have a SPENDING PROBLEM and more of your money does not fix it. It only encourages more spending. This is why the city manager shopped this “citizen led” (aka lower threshold to pass) measure.

2. CITY MANAGER LED AND CRAFTED: This is not citizen led, it is special interest funded. As much as I like all the folks championing Measure A, this was not a grass roots effort. I was in the room when CM Barry Tippin and Parks Director Travis Menne pitched the sales tax to then Council member Josh Johnson along with Rodeo board members Ted Bambino and Barron Browning during our Rodeo Lease Ad Hoc meeting. They made the pitch and Josh Johnson ran with it, gathering and organizing all the various groups and consulted with CM Tippin to craft the measure.

3. OVERSPENDING: If this measure passes, expect more raises. The 20-30% raises handed out in 2021 and 2022 resulted in city wide increases of “market rate” pay for all staff, not just management. This philosophy has not changed- the Council and management repeatedly seek and approve raises as though they are private sector employers. Have you given your employees, or yourself, a 38% raise post pandemic?

a. Example of overspending : Measure A- The city council approved the spending of $500k to quickly put this measure onto the ballot in November 2025 when they would have paid less than $30k if they allowed it to be part of the next general election as the law allows. Instead, they held a special meeting on national night out, (eagerly spending money they said they didn’t have to keep 3 cops in our budget) and they prioritized half a million dollars to gamble on this tax measure. If the budget is balanced and sound then what was the rush?!

b. The city has increased GENERAL FUND personnel costs by 38% since 2020. Giving them more money from the new tax means they keep the 150 new employees and their market rate pay, benefits and pensions, plus add more staff! In a few years when measure A money runs out they will be back begging for more.

4. PRIORITIES: This measure does not reflect my priorities for local government.
General Fund Increases: $15.6 million total

Parks ($5.4m) 63% increase to the Parks budget. Parks budget goes from $8.6m to $14million yearly

Fire ($3.6m) 13% increase to Fire budget from $28.1m to $31.7million yearly

Police ($3.6m) 8% increase to Police Budget from $42.3m to $45.9 million yearly

General Fund($3m) Direct Bail out money to cover the bloated bureaucracy

The idea that we are going to add a fire station, 13 new firefighters, 20 new cops, and build new parks and maintain old with these amounts is unrealistic. These amounts will fix the current budget problem but it won’t deliver the promises being made.

5. FALSE CLAIMS The proponents claim 60% of the tax revenue will come from outside folks, tourists, visitors. Based on what? I have seen no data to support that claim. The reality is we live here and we buy our goods here and we, the people of Redding, will bear the cost of this tax more than anyone else. While I do believe a portion will come from outside the area, the real danger is that it drives people to shop online or elsewhere because the incentive to purchase goods in the lowest taxed city will be lost.

It's time for harsh realities and adult decisions. We cannot tax our way out of bad decisions. Vote no for the bail out and force the city to innovate and re-design the structures that will serve all the people. We can do better with a No on Measure A