Editorial: Measure K is important to Kings County's public safety

The difference is that we get to keep the money right here in Kings County – to fight crime and improve our local public safety services.

Proposition 30 sunsets on December 31, 2016, and government officials, including Governor Brown, say it’s not going to be renewed.

Kings County Citizens for Safe Neighborhoods

Kings County’s current sales tax rate is 7.5 percent, which includes the Prop. 30 tax hike, and it sunsets in December. Once the Prop. 30 measure expires, Kings County’s tax rate would return to 7.25 percent, which according to the State Board of Equalization, is one of the lowest in California.

Tax rates vary among counties and cities. Typically, the Los Angeles and San Francisco population centers have the highest rates, hovering between 9.5 and 10 percent.

Why should voters pass Measure K?

Because, as proponents of Measure K will say, this is not a new tax, but rather a redirection of Prop. 30 revenues. Kings County residents are currently paying a 7.5 percent sales tax rate. Assuming Measure K is passed by voters, the tax rate will remain the same: 7.5 percent, and Kings County’s agencies would have an additional $4 million per year to fight crime and improve local fire services.

The tax would begin January 1, 2017 and requires a two thirds vote in the June election.

Supporters say that 100 percent of the new revenue will go to public safety in Kings County, and the $4 million annually to be split between the cities and Kings County. Lemoore’s share would be about $675,000 – all for public safety. In Lemoore’s case the money would go to the police and fire departments for facilities and ongoing staffing.

What are other agencies getting? The Kings County Sheriff’s Department will beef up their daily patrols and improve staffing in the County Jail. The Kings County Fire Department, woefully undermanned for decades, will boost staffing at its county stations. Hanford, Corcoran and Avenal, like Lemoore, will use its funds for staffing and facilities.

Money well spent. A Citizens Oversight Committee will be formed to review annual audits and make recommendations and report findings. Everything will be open to the public.

Based on a Kings County population of 150,000, Measure K will cost approximately $26 per person, per year, amounting to about 25 cents for every $100 spent.

Local law enforcement officials say additional revenue is needed to combat an increase in misdemeanor crimes and the decriminalization of felonies, due they say to the passage of Prop. 47, an initiative passed by California voters in 2014, which downgraded many drug possession convictions and theft crimes from felonies to misdemeanors.

Local law enforcement say that the initiative’s end result released into local communities an influx of criminals that local police departments and county law enforcement officers have been forced to deal with.

It is with these thoughts in mind that we urge the voters of Lemoore and Kings County to overwhelmingly approve the passage of Measure K, because it will indeed secure a stable source funding that is sorely needed to continue the fight against crime.

And also because it simply replaces an existing quarter-cent sales tax hike, a simple “redirection of a state sales tax to our own coffers in Kings County. It's also important to know that every elected body in Kings County supports Measure K as well as the Kings County Sheriff, Dave Robinson, Lemoore Police Chief Darrell Smith, and every other police and fire chief in Kings County, including Lemoore Volunteer Fire Department Chief John Gibson.

Is a quarter-cent worth it in the long run? We think so. This is important. Pass Measure K.