Redding special election for citizen-led sales tax initiative approved for November
The special election will be held on Nov. 4. If passed, Redding’s sales tax will increase by 1%.
The initiative to increase Redding’s city sales tax by 1% will now go before voters as part of a November special election.
Redding City Council voted 4-1 Tuesday night to adopt a resolution that called for a special election for a citizen-led sales tax initiative. The vote came after the council accepted 6,000-plus valid signatures that were required for such an initiative to appear on the ballot through a special election.
The initiative to raise the city’s sales tax from 7.25% to 8.25% was first proposed by a local group called Citizens for a Better Redding (CBR). If passed, the city would receive an extra $30 million annually, which would be used for “unmet needs” in the community, focusing on public safety and infrastructure.
City Council Member Tenessa Audette was the lone dissenting vote. She proposed pushing the sales tax vote to the next general election in November 2026 to avoid paying extra costs that come with holding a special election. That would also allow more time for citizens to educate themselves on the initiative, she said. City Manager Barry Tippin estimated the special election will cost the city between $300,000 to $500,000.
Council Member Erin Resner asked when the citizen group who proposed the tax increase preferred the election, and Tippin responded that the group preferred to have the election this year. Council Member Dr. Paul Dhanuka voiced support for the special election to be held to honor the requests of the citizens, even though he doesn’t support tax increases, he said.
“We should not shortcut the public’s voting power by delaying the election. A delay would not be respecting the public’s exercise on voting power,” Dhanuka told Shasta Scout after the meeting. “There’s some cost to it, but elections have a cost.”
Resner also emphasized the importance of citizen voices after the meeting.
“This is an opportunity for the community to say what it is that they desire, and I think that it’s our job to support however it is that the people feel,” she said.
The council-approved ballot initiative details how the revenue would be allocated:
- Redding Police Department: 12% for additional staffing, equipment and facilities
- Shasta County Sheriff’s Office: 12% for custody operations addressing repeat offenders and jail capacity
- Redding Fire Department: 13% for the construction and staffing of Fire Station 9, improvements or replacements to other fire stations, equipment and fire mitigation efforts
- Roads: 30% for roads and transportation facilities maintenance, repairs and improvements
- Redding Regional Airport: 5% for building, staffing and general operations
- Parks: 9% for construction, improvements and maintenance of the Redding Sports Park, California Soccer Park, South City Park, Panorama Park, Coldwell Park, Lake Redding Park and Redding Aquatic Center
- Northern Riverfront: 9% for construction, improvement and maintenance of Rodeo Grounds and Civic Auditorium
- Unallocated: 10% for use by Redding City Council
Based on those percentages, the Redding Police would receive an additional approximately $3.6 million annually on top of an existing budget of about $43 million. The Shasta Sheriff’s Office would gain the same amount every year for incarceration purposes. The Redding Fire Department would receive about $3.9 million annually.
New tax revenue would also generate $9 million annually for roads and transportation facilities, $1.5 million for the Redding Regional Airport and $2.7 million for parks. An additional allocation of funds would specifically be used for projects at the Northern Redding Riverfront for improvements and maintenance to public facilities, including the Redding Rodeo Grounds and Civic Auditorium.
The funds would be held in a special fund by the city to be used for only the purposes set forth in the initiative’s expenditure plan.
If the initiative passes, the city council will establish a citizens advisory committee comprised of citizens picked by council members to weigh in on the revenue made from the tax. The agenda packet from Tuesday night’s meeting explains that the citizen group should include a wide range of community stakeholders, naming groups like the Chamber of Commerce, Redding Rodeo, Civic Auditorium, Redding Rancheria and others as examples.
The advisory committee would be tasked with meeting annually after an independent audit is completed about the “receipts and expenditures of the proceeds of the tax.”
Almost 10,000 signatures were gathered by CBR for the initiative. 10% of registered voters in the city are required for citizen-led initiatives to appear on the ballot, and more than 6,000 signatures were found to be valid — exceeding the 5,816 signature minimum.
A partial list of the citizens involved in CBR was provided to Shasta Scout, and it included several people affiliated with the Chamber of Commerce and a citizen on the board of directors of the Redding Rodeo.
To learn more about the sales tax initiative, click here.
Other council news
After the council vote on the special election, Dhanuka proposed bringing back into consideration the new First Responder Fee, which has garnered significant opposition online. He explained that the fee was passed by a previous city council that might not have received such community opposition at the time. He said he wanted to propose only requiring nursing homes and assisted living facilities to pay the fee, not individuals.
Madison Holcomb is a recent graduate of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She’s reporting for Shasta Scout as a 2025 summer intern with support from the Nonprofit Newsroom Internship Program created by The Scripps Howard Fund and the Institute for Nonprofit News.
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WASTE 500K $ to tax us more with a special election! WHY not wait and put it on a regular election ticket? STOP wasting money, rescind the bos huge raises for themselves! STOP hiring new positions at outrageous wages for the UNqualified! FIRE kelstrom and crye! VOTE FOR JOANNE ROV!
Take a closer look at the group behind this proposed tax increase. It always seems to come from the same organizations, individuals, and causes. Meanwhile, families are left to shoulder more financial burden because our city has failed for years to manage and allocate funds responsibly.
As a tired Redding citizen, I’m frustrated. Young families are struggling to pay for rent, electricity, food, clothing—you name it. Yet somehow, we have the money to hold a special election, forcing even more pressure on those who are already underserved.
Let’s get real. Why not wait a year and see where things stand? Have any of you heard of tariffs? They’re driving up costs across the board. When will our local leaders pull their heads out of the sand and recognize how many of us are living paycheck to paycheck—single parents, the elderly, working families. Do you really understand what’s happening out here?
Can we just hold off one more year so people can afford basic necessities like milk, while we watch our grocery bills rise?
I could go on and on, but the truth is, our local government doesn’t seem to listen to the people.
Tenessa Audette City Council Member
🚨 REDDING’S FISCAL CRISIS: THE TRUTH BEHIND THE NUMBERS
After months of reviewing budget documents, audits, and internal reports, here’s what I’ve uncovered:
📉 The City modified its budget on a single strong tax year. One unusually high year of sales tax was treated as the new normal. $13 million in one-time ARPA funds were added to reserves—giving a false sense of financial health.
💼 The City Manager negotiates a 52% raise—in violation of the law. The raises between 2022-2024 were approved without proper public notice or disclosure, as required by Government Code. It was a major compensation change, done improperly.
📊 Sales tax has come in below projections for 13 straight quarters. That’s over three years of missed revenue targets. Yet during this time, 20% raises continued, staffing grew, and personnel costs surged by over 35%.
👮♂️ Now police and fire positions are being cut. Grant-funded public safety roles are being eliminated because the General Fund can no longer sustain the spending decisions made from three years ago.
🧾 Key financial reports were withheld. Cash reconciliation reports disappeared for nearly two years. Reserve reports changed formats mid-year. Council—and the public—were not shown the full picture.
Now, as the consequences set in, we’re being asked to bail out a budget built on failed assumptions. The time for accountability is now.
📄 Full report: https://tenessaaudette.com/redding-budget
Madison, nice report. Thanks
Yes, I want to pay more for gas, food, clothes and medicine. Said no-one.
Will the elections office be doing the November election? If so, it’ll be the first one handled by Clint Curtis & sidekick.
Mark: Yes.
C’mon now really, most of the people in this city are struggling to buy even the essentials, things like groceries. So because a few small special interest groups want to put there hand in the cookie jar, we are going to spend nearly a half a million dollars for the city to vote down an increase in taxes. Where is that money even coming from? I thought the budget was marginal at best. And 12% to incarcerate MORE people, and another 12% to hand over to one of the most ineffective police forces in the state, if not the country. So what…? They can pay the bill to have more private security protect more than just government buildings within eyesight of the police station?
Preach!!!
So as a follow up to the fire department’s need to charge families already overwhelmed with the costs of taking care of loved ones 469.00 for assists, they will also realize a 3.9 million increase in revenue if this tax increase passes. If passes, 30mil annually for “unmet needs?” It will be interesting to see who is “picked” to be on this advisory board and exactly what is deemed an “unmet need.”