Supervisor Laine puts brake on Measure S spending by El Dorado County

EL DORADO COUNTY, Calif. - During the El Dorado County Board of Supervisors meeting on Tuesday, October 10, Supervisor Brooke Laine had an item pulled from the consent agenda that involved Measure S spending.

Laine, who represents the Lake Tahoe Basin, pulled the Department of Transportation (DOT) request for up to $900,000 to go towards equipment rentals and parts as needed for the next three years. The funding to be used by DOT was defined as Transient Occupancy Tax - Local Discretionary (50%), Transient Occupancy Tax - Measure S (15%), County Service Area 3 (5%), Tribe Funds (5%), Road Fund (10%) and Road Maintenance and Rehabilitation Act of 2017 (15%).

Laine had an issue with Measure S funds being used for the equipment rental, especially since some TOT is already funding it, and it wasn't showing as anything over and beyond normal expenses.

"Measure S got public support for the specific purpose of additional money being dedicated to road maintenance and snow removal," said Laine.

Measure S was approved by the County voters living at Lake Tahoe in 2022 and its passage authorized a four-percent increase in the TOT levied against rent charged for short-term lodging in the unincorporated areas of the county at Tahoe. Funds raised were to only be used on road maintenance and snow removal in the Basin that were "over and beyond" the normal expenses.

Laine said the last time a three-year budget proposal came up for the same item it was paid for with other funding sources, including SB1 funds. She said since this is routine, it didn't fit what the voters approved for additional snow removal and road work.

It is routine, and well established so she did not agree that Measure S funds could be used for this.

"The word 'additional' is important," said Laine.

The Supervisor also questioned the timing of the agenda item since the Measure S Oversight Committee meets next week and didn't get the opportunity to evaluate the expense.

DOT Director Rafael Martinez said using SB1 funds for the three-year contract wasn't an easy process but he could use more County Services Area 3 (CSA 3) funds to cover the 15 percent Measure S would cover.

The other supervisors agreed with Laine's argument and the agenda item was approved with the funding changes, 5-0.