San Mateo County Board of Supervisors approve 2024-25 Measure K allocation

These funding allocations are a part of the 2024-25 fiscal year recommended budget, during which the total expected revenue from Measure K — a half-cent sales tax increase to financially support county services — is $110 million.

County Executive Mike Callagy said that it has been about eight years since Measure K was approved and since its funding priorities were examined. For the past year, a subcommittee including supervisors Dave Pine and David Canepa was tasked with doing just that.

“It was an opportunity to really look at the modern-day needs of this county and into the future and realign those previous dollars to address those needs,” Callagy said.

The priority areas were determined after gathering community input, such as countywide surveys and listening sessions, to obtain resident input on where the Measure K funds should go. The allotment was also determined after looking at other grant and funding opportunities from revenues outside of the county to determine what they should bolster with county money.

“We looked at it again and really spent more time looking at federal and state revenues and where some of those dollars would actually come in,” Chief Financial Officer Robert Manchia said. “Where we found that it was a little lacking in funding opportunities was especially in housing or homelessness.”

The board also approved for staff to decide which specific agencies under each priority area will be awarded funding, but the board will have final approval over the contracts that are slated to begin in July.

A draft of which agencies may receive funding for the housing and homelessness category and emergency preparedness category was presented to the board at last week’s retreat meeting. The priority area of child, family and senior services did not have a specified proposal for its allotment of $16 million because of the sheer volume of applications for funding within that category, but hopes to come to a finalized decision in coming weeks.

The resolution was approved unanimously after hearing input from public comments in regards to Measure K funds, with the majority of comments advocating toward supporting Asian American residents and affordable housing efforts.

Additionally, Supervisors Noelia Corzo and President Warren Slocum each had one-time district-discretionary Measure K funding requests for approval. Corzo was approved for a grant to be allocated to the Elevate Community Center for the “Empowering Families” pilot program to provide legal services in the areas of domestic violence and family law in District 2. Slocum was approved to help defray travel expenses for a robotics team based in District 4 to travel to Texas in April for the World Championships.