Pacifica Vital Services Measure Y
Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What is Measure Y? 
A: The City Council unanimously placed Measure Y on the November 8, 2022, local ballot to address community priorities and maintain fiscal stability and vital services such as public safety, attracting jobs and businesses and protecting local resources like our parks and beaches with locally controlled funding that cannot be taken by the state. 

Q: What did the community say about Pacifica’s parks, beaches, and recreation?
A: Pacifica’s parks, beaches, coastline, trails, and recreation opportunities help kids grow up healthy and are the reason many families choose to live here. Additional funding is needed to protect these resources for current and future generations. 

Q: What did the community say about roads needs? 
A: Pacifica has the worst rated roads in the Bay Area according to the 2020 Metropolitan Transportation Commission Bay Area Pavement Condition Report. Measure Y will provide additional revenue so that the City can make road repairs to local streets and fix potholes to keep the community safe, improve traffic congestion, and prevent further deterioration before City roads become worse or even more expensive to fix.  

Q: Would Measure Y impact public safety? 
A: As a full-service city, Pacifica provides vital services to thousands of residents every day. Measure Y will provide additional revenue to help prevent reductions to neighborhood police patrols and maintain existing levels of fire protection and rapid emergency response. As a city vulnerable to sea level rise, Measure Y will provide additional revenue for the City to address and prevent coastal erosion and maintain storm drains to prevent flooding and help protect homes and livelihoods.  

Q: What community visioning process resulted in the development of Measure Y? 
A: In recent months, the City has engaged residents about needs and priorities for the City. Top community priorities included maintaining 911 fire, police, and emergency medical response times, keeping pollution and trash off our beaches, maintaining storm drains to prevent flooding, attracting and retaining local jobs and businesses, and paving streets and roads.

Q: How does Measure Y work?
A: Measure Y would enact a half-cent sales tax (transaction and use tax) to provide general fund revenue to maintain existing city services with reliable, locally controlled funding that cannot be taken by the State. The tax that would be enacted by Measure Y would not apply to prescription medicine or food purchased as groceries and is not a tax on rent, homes, or property.  

Q: Does Measure Y include fiscal accountability provisions?
A: Measure Y requires that the City Council establish an independent citizen oversight and subject all Measure Y funds to the City’s regular financial audits. By law, the use of all funding would be subject to local control. 

Q. What is the Maximum Sales Tax Rate in San Mateo County?
A. The maximum Sales Tax Rate in San Mateo County is 9.875%. It is currently levied at that rate in the cities of Belmont, Daly City, East Palo Alto, Redwood City, San Bruno, and South San Francisco.  
 
Q. What is the Existing Sales Tax Rate in Pacifica?
A. The existing Sales Tax Rate in the City of Pacifica is 9.375%
 
Q. What are the additions to the Sales Tax Rate in San Mateo County?
A. There have been five Countywide additions to the Sales Tax Rate in San Mateo County adopted by the voters:
* San Mateo County Transit District (1982) = 0.500%
* San Mateo County Transportation Agency (1989) = 0.500%
* San Mateo County Retail Transactions & Use Tax (2013) = 0.500%
* San Mateo County Transit District (2018) = 0.500%
* San Mateo County Joint Powers Board (2021) = 0.125%
 
Q. What is Pacifica's Existing Share of the Sales Tax?
A. Pacifica receives 1% of the 9.375% existing Sales Tax Rate.

Q. When is the election?
A. The election is Tuesday, November 8, 2022. To check your registration or get registered to vote, visit registertovote.ca.gov.  For more information about the Municipal Election visit the Pacifica City Clerk’s page: cityofpacifica.org/departments/city-clerk.