Redding sales tax measure appears to fail after initial count of votes

The Redding sales tax measure that would increase the city’s sales tax by 1% seems unlikely to pass after an initial count of vote-by-mail ballots sent before Election Day and those that were cast in person on Election Day. As of 1:30 a.m. Nov. 5, the election office had not yet counted any vote-by-mail ballot envelopes received on Election Day. 

Measure A appeared on Tuesday’s ballot for the Nov. 4 special election. Only Redding voters had a chance to vote on the sales tax increase while all of Shasta County and the rest of the state got to vote on Prop. 50, a redistricting measure. 

As of 5:45 a.m. Nov. 5, disapproval of the measure was leading by 63.87%. 

The measure was a citizen-led initiative brought forth by a local group called Citizens for a Better Redding. The group gathered more than 6,000 valid signatures that were needed in order to get the initiative to appear on the ballot. 

If it had passed, the measure would’ve raised Redding’s sales tax from 7.25% to 8.25% — allowing the city to receive about $30 million annually to go toward “unmet needs” that focus on public safety and infrastructure. 

The extra funding would’ve gone toward the Redding Police and Fire Departments, Shasta Sheriff’s Office, the Redding Regional Airport, roads and city parks and projects at the Northern Redding Riverfront, including the Civic Auditorium and Redding Rodeo Grounds. The sales tax was labeled as a “specific tax,” meaning the money that would’ve been collected from the tax must’ve gone toward the specific purposes outlined in the measure. 

As of early October, about 40 organizations and individuals made donations in support of Measure A, which totaled to about $267,000. The largest financial backers of the measure include Advance Redding, which operates the Civic Auditorium, and the Redding Rodeo Association. 

Vote-by-mail ballots that were postmarked on the day of the election still need to be counted before the measure is officially passed. 

The last statewide special election was held in 2021 for the California Gubernatorial Recall Election. About 74,000 Shasta County residents voted in that election, which was about 65.7% of the total number of registered voters in the county. 

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