16 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY OCTOBER 1-7, 2026 www.montereycountynow.com MEASURE UP Our endorsements on local ballot measures and state propositions on the Nov. 3 ballot. By the Editorial Board Government can be brilliant. Two local public agencies figured out how to turn sewage, stormwater and farm runoff into drinking water, which now supplies a third of the Monterey Peninsula’s supply. That’s government being creative and effective. Government can also fail us badly. In 2023, the Pajaro River levee broke and some 1,700 residents of Pajaro were forced from their homes, nearly three decades after the same levee failed in 1995. Officials at every level knew the risk. That’s government failing to serve people effectively. Either way, it’s our government. Yes, taxes often feel too high. It can be hard to get a straight answer from an elected official on the issues that matter most. And if you’ve ever sat through a school board, city council or planning commission meeting, you know how cumbersome and, in an odd way, how remarkable, the process is. Marina residents are fed up with council meetings that drag past midnight. In Seaside and Salinas, residents complain that their mayors can be heavy-handed, cutting off fellow councilmembers and even members of the public from speaking. But government is only as good as how we vote. That’s why elections matter. And this one is a humdinger with 18 local ballot measures, 14 state propositions and a long roster of candidates. (Our candidate picks will run in next week’s edition on Oct. 8.) Our news team continues reporting on these elections. Our editorial board relies on that reporting as well as additional interviews in making our endorsements. In doing that work, our editorial board kept running into the same glaring problem, one that leaves our local governments perpetually in need of more money. Monterey County, home to about 440,000 people, is served by 12 cities. Each has its own city manager, many of its own departments for parks, public works and more. The cost of all that duplication is becoming unworkable. This Nov. 3, voters in Carmel, Marina and Pacific Grove are being asked to raise their taxes; Carmel alone has two measures. Monterey, King City and Salinas are asking voters to extend existing taxes they can’t afford to lose. The needs are real. Marina faces a nearly $58 million gap to replace its police station, fire station and City Hall. Monterey needs roughly $12 million a year just to keep fixing its streets, sidewalks and storm drains. Pacific Grove is staring down aging infrastructure and rising costs. In many cases we recommend a yes vote, because these cities can’t wait for a better system to arrive. But the bigger question is unavoidable. A county served by one or two city halls instead of 12 could save many, many millions, year after year. In 2026, it’s clear we can no longer afford to keep all these small governments running without raising more taxes. How to get there is the billion-dollar question. But we’ve already seen it work in pieces. Monterey’s fire department also serves Carmel, P.G., Sand City, the Navy installation in Monterey and the Monterey Regional Airport (Del Rey Oaks provides the airport’s policing). Seaside’s firefighters cover Del Rey Oaks. Funding 12 city managers and their pensions costs nearly $4 million. Call us dreamers. We’d rather dream a little than keep paying for 12 of everything, of having seven of 12 local cities (plus the County of Monterey) asking voters for tax increases. Our communities have more in common than our city lines suggest, and we’d all be better served by working together. Get informed, and vote. Democracy depends on you. We all win with good choices. The Weekly’s editorial board comprises Founder & CEO Bradley Zeve, Publisher Erik Cushman and Editor Sara Rubin. These determinations are made independently of the news reporting team. Local Measures MEASURE E | MONTEREY COUNTY HOTEL TAX | YES This measure would raise the County of Monterey’s transient-occupancy tax (TOT) from 10.5 percent to 12.5 percent, projected to bring in about $7.6 million a year for the County’s general fund. It would apply to lodging in unincorporated areas of Monterey County (e.g. Pebble Beach, Carmel Valley, and Big Sur) where some of our largest, priciest and most renowned properties are located. (City governments set and collect their own TOTs.) For comparison, Napa County’s TOT is 13 percent and San Francisco’s is 14 percent. Despite what some opponents claim, Measure E won’t make our community’s hospitality rates uncompetitive. MEASURE G | SALINAS SALES TAX | YES In 2014, Salinas voters approved a 1-cent sales tax, set to sunset in March 2030. Given how essential this revenue has become to city operations, providing some 14 percent of the city operating funds, the council is now asking voters to renew it, this time with no future sunset date. The tax generates more than $30 million annually ($34.5 million last year), with funding that goes toward a range of city services—police, emergency response, homelessness reduction, DANIEL DREIFUSS Construction work above Carmel Beach. Both Measures M and N would go into the general fund, but listed priority expenditures include street upgrades and beach erosion efforts.
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