Marin-Sonoma pest district defers tax pitch

Aug. 16--The Marin/Sonoma Mosquito and Vector Control District expects to update its 10-year financial projections this fall after rejecting a pitch to campaign for a new revenue-generating tax measure.

Last month, the district board agreed with a staff recommendation that now is not the right time to ask voters to approve a new tax. The proposed tax would have established a benefit assessment district overlaying the existing two districts to create a new fee and provide long-term funding.

"It was generally agreed that the district will continue to closely monitor indications of its financial health and revisit the need for additional financial support as circumstances change," said Phil Smith, executive director of the district. "Revised 10-year financial projections will be available in the fall."

The district operates with 34 full-time equivalent employees, plus seven seasonal field and laboratory assistants, on a $10.15 million annual budget. The district serves more than 765,700 residents in the counties.

District staffers routinely check mosquitoes, which can transmit diseases such as dengue fever, yellow fever, Zika virus and chikungunya.

The tax would have paid for enhanced surveillance and control to prevent disease outbreaks, as well as tick testing, control of ground-nesting yellowjackets and rodent control.

Climate change and increasing demand for vector control services are two reasons the district considered a tax, said Shaun McCaffery, the district board president and a Healdsburg City Council member.

"Right now we have to figure out how to staff up and meet increasing demand," he said, noting that with close monitoring, officials hope to develop long-term financial planning.

"In order to convince voters to pass a tax -- which is what you have to do -- you have to show a dire need," McCaffery said. "There wasn't enough of a critical need right now to go forward with a tax."

"Considering the increasing demand in vector services, I think in the future there will be a time when (a tax) needs to happen," McCaffrey said.

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