Supervisors set path for one sales tax while a more contentious debate for another awaits

Supes approve Measure C funds for child care, Measure W allocation for homelessness is TBD; Oakland approves two-year budget; Fife references FBI in discussion about city's digital billboard deal

☕️MORNING BUZZ

—With raucous cheers inside its chambers, the Alameda County Board of Supervisors approved a five-year budget plan that triggers the release of long-awaited sales tax proceeds to local providers of childcare and early education.

The board unanimously approved the Measure C budget plan on Tuesday after several supervisors and numerous members of the public conjured the spirit of late Supervisor Wilma Chan, one of measure’s biggest supporters.

“As former President Biden would say, ‘This is a big f’ing deal’” Supervisor Nate Miley said.

“This is more than just funding,” Supervisor Nikki Fortunato Bas added. “It’s a step toward treating child care as a public good.”

Questions about the legality of Measure C, the 20 year, half-cent sales tax approved by voters in 2020, had tied up distribution of the sales tax for several years. In the meantime, roughly $150 million in annual revenue has piled up each year since mid-2021.

The first year of the budget plan calls for spending nearly $190 million.

First 5 Alameda County, the group administering Measure C funds, estimates that 80 percent of childcare providers serving five-years-old and younger will benefit from the funding.

In addition, about 5,500 early educators serving 37,000 children in the county will be assisted by Measure C funding, according to First 5 Alameda County.

—MORE INSIDE:

• City leaders from across the county renew their push for Measure W funding to combat homelessness; Supervisor advocates for spending bulk of sales tax revenues to help the unhoused.

• Oakland’s $4.4 billion, two-year budget remarkably maintains the status quo for staffing and services, while keeping all of the city’s fire stations open

• Unlike her predecessor, Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee encountered a negative new story and quickly quashed it. End of story.

• Last year, the Alameda County Civil Grand Jury slammed Oakland’s deal for new digital billboards. As the proposed deal heads for a council vote next week, one councilmember questioned the approval process and curiously referenced the FBI.

• Change is coming to the Port of Oakland commission as Mayor Barbara Lee makes two appointments, while reappointing a political ally.

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