San Mateo County sales tax funds to be reviewed, housing a priority

Recent actions by the Trump administration may very well plunge the county into greater financial uncertainty, said Roberto Manchia, San Mateo County chief financial officer, pointing to heavy tariffs and a spiraling stock market. 

And any cuts to federal social services like Medicaid would likely leave some 43,000 individuals in the 15th congressional district — most of San Mateo County — without health care, Supervisor Jackie Speier said. 

Speier, who previously advocated for the county to stop allocating Measure K funds to district-specific projects, emphasized that the current political and economic climate was incentive enough to focus the funding on basic needs like health care, food security and housing. 

“We had the luxury of having an additional $115 million a year and we’ve used it in, I think, very compassionate ways,” she said. “But there’s a difference between need to have and like to have. … Our responsibility is to the most needy. Housing, health care, food are those three elements I think everything we do has got to be focused on.” 

While some Measure K-funded initiatives do provide basic needs and essential services, others do not, Supervisor Ray Mueller said. He suggested sorting the services by most to least essential, with least essential services budgeted for only six months more in funding and the most necessary ones receiving budgeting for up to a year and a half. 

“They aren’t all created equal, and they’re not all equal to the county departments,” he said. 

It’s important to keep community nonprofits and organizations that rely on Measure K funding apprised of ongoing funding developments, board President David Canepa said, both for transparency purposes and to account for the “paradigm shift” the county may need to undertake. 

“We don’t know what the future is — I think we have to be transparent, we have to be truthful with them,” he said. “The adverse consequences that are going to affect them are so great.” 

But for those who rely on Measure K-funded programs — which currently include shelter operations, housing assistance, emergency financial assistance, rapid rehousing and guaranteed income for domestic violence victims, among many others — not budgeting for funding beyond six months could create pandemonium and stress, Supervisor Noelia Corzo said. 

“I am worried that six months would not just create more work for staff, but create more insecurity and instability for not just nonprofits, but residents,” she said. 

Staff and County Executive Mike Callagy will bring information on budgeting Measure K funding to future Board of Supervisors meetings. No direct action was taken at the county retreat. 

Housing 

Supervisors reached consensus on what county properties would be prioritized for affordable housing development — one at the North County Courthouse site in South San Francisco, another where the law library in Redwood City currently sits and a third on Walnut Street in San Carlos. 

One other property in San Mateo — potentially located on Fashion Island Boulevard or in the Highlands area — will also be prioritized for development, supervisors said. 

While the supervisors found agreement based on the list of properties offered up by staff, Speier advocated for more affordable housing in the north of San Mateo County. 

“Everything is Central and South County, with the exception of two projects. We need to find more places in North County, speaking as a North County representative,” she said. 

Conversation around affordable housing development overlapped with another board priority for the fiscal year: the development of workforce housing. 

Supervisors brainstormed specific goals and potential obstacles to creating a more robust workforce housing stock, including developing housing at the law library site within two years — a location that could be ideal for county employees, though Callagy cautioned the goal could be overambitious. 

Another priority — both for affordable housing and workforce housing, which at times overlaps — could be allowing for tenants to eventually own some of the housing that gets built, Mueller said. 

“I really want to see what we did in Half Moon Bay with Stone Pine,” he said. “I want to do affordable housing that gives tenants the right to buy in.” 

Other goals to facilitate countywide workforce housing included a thorough inventory of eligible property, partnerships with developers, tenant protections and an increase in loan assistance programs. 

Corzo expressed concerns that workforce housing goals could deprioritize the county’s most marginalized populations. 

“When we think about who is most vulnerable in terms of housing in the county, it’s not necessarily the workforce,” she said. “We’re leaving our most vulnerable residents out of the discussion.” 

But Speier pushed back, citing recent affordable housing projects in the pipeline — including 170 units at Middlefield Junction and 47 at Stone Pine Cove, among others. 

“Most of the housing we provide right now is for the most vulnerable,” she said. “All these units we’ve just built … that’s all less than 30% area median income.” 

At the county retreat, the Board of Supervisors also approved a conditional allocation of $9 million for development of an 88-unit deed-restricted Menlo Park affordable housing project. 

Emergency preparedness 

After receiving presentations on San Mateo County’s wildfire prevention and policy, supervisors also agreed that the county needed to be proactive in its emergency preparedness goals. 

For Supervisor Lisa Gauthier, one of those priorities was preparation for the ramifications of sea-level rise, which could irreparably damage valuable property in the future. That requires a cohesive, countywide strategy, she emphasized. 

“It is important that we address sea-level rise,” she said. “We live in the most vulnerable area when it comes to sea-level rise.” 

Wildfire preparedness is top of mind for many in California in the aftermath of devastating blazes in Los Angeles. Michael Wara, director of Stanford’s Climate and Energy Policy program, cautioned supervisors that areas in San Mateo County — like Portola Valley — have similar environmental climates to vegetative Los Angeles areas decimated by recent fires. 

“We need to get the work done on the ground before something like this happens,” he said. “‘Rebuild San Mateo Strong’ — that is not where we want to be.” 

It’s possible to take proactive measures, Wara said, which include advocating for federal firefighter raises, educating community members on the value of prescribed burns, limiting vegetation on individual properties and using new firefighting technologies. 

Another issue that supervisors committed to tackling was rising insurance premiums for natural disasters like floods and fires. When it comes to fire insurance, reducing insurance prices requires reducing risk, Wara said. 

“Part of the solution to this problem, which affects everybody, is reducing risk,” he said. “We need to reduce risk, so there is less risk to transfer in the form of insurance premium.” 

Other specific goals for the county relating to emergency preparedness include enrolling 60% to 70% of residents in the San Mateo County alert system, creating scenario maps and hazard assessments. 

“I think the board really realizes, having seen some of these disasters, that we’re vulnerable,” Callagy said. “People’s lives are going to be greatly, greatly impacted. We have an opportunity, if not to prevent that, then mitigate that.” 

The third goal that supervisors selected was work on closing gaps in life outcomes for county residents, including assessing life expectancy, child care deserts, child care literacy and updating 2015 plans for building healthy and equitable communities. 

However, some staff and supervisors pushed back, calling the goal too vague. 

“I think any action we take should be very specific,” Speier said. “Otherwise, we just get lost in this word salad.”