Frequently Asked Questions

The Folsom Police Middle Management Association voted to join public and private leaders and employee organizations to encourage voters to vote YES on Measure G. The Association’s public statement made it clear that “the need for the City to maintain the level of service we want in Folsom requires more revenue. This measure also includes a requirement for economic development and oversight in how your money is spent.”

Measure G qualified for the ballot after a group of concerned Folsom citizens collected over 8,200 signatures from registered voters who live in Folsom. Additional police officers, additional firefighter/EMTs and other important street and parks maintenance personnel cannot be hired to maintain and repair our infrastructure if there is a sunset date. If there is an interest to repeal or revise any of the provisions of Measure G, another citizen’s effort can craft a subsequent initiative and follow the same process that placed Measure G on the ballot in the first place. 

Measure G funds stay in Folsom, nothing goes to the county or the state, and can ONLY be used to fund the essential services spelled out in the initiative. Expenditures will be recommended and overseen by a Citizens’ Oversight Committee, and annual independent audits ensure local control and accountability.

South of Highway 50 is self-sustaining, with property tax covering current and related operations (such as fire staff for the new station). Development impact fees will cover the construction of planned facilities such as parks, trails, and the new fire station. The projected General Fund budget gap is not caused by south of Highway 50 development. That said, there is not a police beat assigned south of 50 and an ambulance crew is not scheduled for Station 34. This was requested in the 24-25 budget but funds are not available.

Most people aren’t aware the City of Folsom receives only 20% of the property tax paid to provide essential local services. For example, on a $900,000 home, the annual revenue from property tax for the city is $1800. At the same time, these new neighborhoods also need public services (law enforcement, fire protection, parks, etc.), and as a result, residential development typically is “break-even.” Property tax revenue and expenses, for the development south of Highway 50 has already been accounted for in the city’s financial projections, and the result is a zero net effect. Property tax revenue generated anywhere in the city (north or south of Highway 50) can be spent by city council on purposes throughout the city. Even with the new growth, property tax revenue is not sufficient for the many needs in the city.

There are planned medical and commercial centers (UC Davis, Dignity Health) south of Highway 50, however, the medical facilities will likely apply and qualify for an annual exemption from property tax under the Welfare Exemption. Beyond these projects, commercial development south of Highway 50 is planned, including the Town Center but these will take several years to develop to begin generating sales tax revenue.

The revenue outlook for Folsom is very problematic and many needs for FY 2024-25 could not be addressed due to revenue shortfalls. While property tax revenues have been as predicted, sales tax is expected to be $20,000 less than last year and expenses are on the rise. Expenses the city cannot control have gone up considerably. For example, the city’s insurance costs have increased $2 million, in just one year. The insurance premium was paid from the Risk Management Fund, which has decreased by $5 million since 2019, and there are no funds to replenish it.

The city council had only $1.7 million in discretionary spending available for the budget year and was able to fund three police officers (and added three more from salary savings), a training chief in the Fire Department, a parks planner, a parks maintenance worker for south of 50, and two streets maintenance workers. The city council used one-time reserve money to avoid reducing parks maintenance by over $300,000.

The city was not able to fund any of the following for FY 2024/25:

• Park Renovation – estimated at over $20 million in deferred maintenance. There are 30 parks with equipment over 20 years old, well past their lifecycle.
• Trail Renovation – estimated $7 million in deferred maintenance.
• Fire – no restoration of the fire crew at Station 35, a cut from 2014, and an estimated $5 million in additional immediate needs.
• Police – an estimated $5 million in additional immediate needs.

To understand the unmet needs of the city, you can review the February 13, 2024, staff budget presentation here:

FY 2024-25 Preliminary Budget Workshop with Presentation of Departmental Budget Priorities
Review of the City’s Financial Challenges and Projected Structural Deficit, and the City’s Budget Allocations by Department and Direction to Staff

Yes, the city does have a reserve, however, it is meant to get the city budget through temporary emergencies, like the COVID pandemic or the Great Recession of 2008, not to address ongoing revenue shortages. City reserves are now close to the minimum recommended. If the reserve is used extensively now, there is no money in the pipeline to replace it, or for emergencies – all but ensuring catastrophic cuts to services when there’s another downturn. That is not responsible fiscal planning.

The city council did approve $800,000 from the emergency “rainy day” reserves on a one-time basis to replace the beloved playground at Folsom Kids Play Park. For the first time in over 20 years, the budget draws from emergency “rainy day” reserves, outside of a recession to fund high priority needs.

The city reduced the Risk Management Fund by $2 million this year due to insurance cost increases. This fund has been reduced by $5 million in the last five years and no money is available to replenish it.

The reserve funds also earn interest, providing additional revenue to the city. The higher the reserves, the more interest and revenue the city can earn to help offset future costs. Maintaining a sufficient reserve is a critical step.

Importantly, Folsom doesn’t have a spending problem, we have a revenue problem. A combination of factors, including “the Amazon Effect,” are diverting more of Folsom’s revenues to the state, county or other cities. Inflation and other rising costs have brought us to the point where expenses are higher than revenues. The city has been taking steps for years to cut costs but it’s not enough. And now we have to make some tough decisions – we can raise revenue or cut more services, and continue to defer necessary maintenance. As citizens who enjoy the quality of life the City of Folsom has to offer including high levels of public safety and the property values that support city services, cutting services or levels of service is not an option.

First of all, all the money stays in Folsom. Unlike other, larger forms of government, your city government is a service provider to you – Folsom’s residents and business owners. The purpose of this tax is to raise revenue to preserve and enhance a number of city services, including those essential to enhancing public safety, maintaining property values, and for our quality of life.

This special tax would raise $29 million annually, based on current projections – all of which would stay in Folsom and cannot be redirected to the state or county. The special tax also specifically requires money raised be used for public safety – including funding for fire, rescue and emergency services; programs to reduce crime and address homelessness; wildfire protection; traffic improvements; park and recreation facility and trail improvements; economic development (to fund and invest in new jobs and revenues that will help prevent the City of Folsom from being in this situation again); upgrades to the city’s stormwater system to prevent flooding and damage to private or public property; and large “capital improvements” (large construction projects that enhance the community).

Absolutely NO money can be used to enhance pensions or retirement benefits for current city employees.

Visit “What Does an Extra 1-Cent get you?” for more details.

For more than a decade, City of Folsom leaders have been actively working to cut costs, stretch dollars, and ensure a balanced budget, while minimizing cuts to public services. Actions the city has taken include, but are not limited to:

• Reducing staffing levels. The city has 77 fewer employees today than it did in 2008. There are staffing shortages in nearly every department, and all departments are doing more with less, even as our population has continued to increase.
• Using part-time or contract employees (to save costs on salaries and benefits) whenever feasible.
• Increasing the employee’s contribution requirements towards their retirement.
• Eliminating retiree health benefits for new employees.
• Increasing existing employees’ contribution requirements for their health benefits.
• Restructuring education incentive pay for cost savings.
• Extending the number of steps in pay ranges to reduce annual pay increases.
• Eliminating longevity pay for new employees.
• Capping accrued leave balances and cash-out amounts.
• Incrementally reducing scopes of services for such contracts as landscape maintenance to match available dollars, which has, and will continue to manifest itself with visible lack of quality, loss of vegetation, and unattractive streetscapes and parks.
• Deferring millions of dollars of maintenance and capital costs.
• Extending the “useful life cycle” of city vehicles.
• Implementing electronic permitting and payment systems to increase efficiencies.
• Applying for state and federal grants for capital and service needs.

Check out “What’s Been Done” for more information.

The Special Sales Tax is one percent, which means one-cent ($.01) for every dollar of taxable purchases. For a household that spends $5,000 on taxable goods in Folsom for an entire year, the total extra amount would be $50 for the year, which equates to approximately $4.17 per month. A household spending $15,000 a year on taxable goods in Folsom would spend $150 more for the year, or $12.50 a month. A household spending $25,000 a year on taxable goods would spend $250 more for the year, or $20.83 a month. Only taxable goods apply – meaning items such as groceries, medicines and services would not be taxable.

NO. For the first time since the pandemic, sales tax revenue, one of the city’s core funding sources, is projected to DECREASE and fall short of original estimates by $1.7 million for FY 2023/24. This is due to online shopping and changing in buying patterns.

Since FY 2016/17, sales tax has grown by $3.4 million (about 2%/year), although the cost of providing services has grown by $29.5 million (about 5.5%/year) during the same period.

Yes, but the city’s costs have increased across the board. Just like the rest of us, costs to maintain the same level of service have increased for the city. One example is parks maintenance costs. The city had to reduce maintenance service in parks by over $300,000 last year (and was not able to do any park renovation on aging parks – estimated to be approximately $20 million).

Prior to a sales tax, other revenue options that were explored by city staff included:

• Economic development: To meet the city’s revenue needs, we’d need to build a second location for every one of our top 25 tax revenue-generating businesses (Walmart, Sam’s, Target, Costco, etc.), and then double the number of customers currently shopping at these stores, which is simply unrealistic. Economic development can help, but it doesn’t get us there alone. (Source: MuniServices/Avenu Insights & Analytics).
• Increase the property tax: While the city’s share of revenue from property taxes is low (for example, on a $900,000 home the city only gets $1800 in property tax) (source: City of Folsom Department of Finance), laws like Proposition 13 place limits on what can be done here, and it would require voter approval. Also, it’s not fair for property owners alone to pay for services that all city residents and visitors enjoy. To that point, another key benefit of a sales tax is that up to 40% of the revenue generated would come from visitors outside the city.
• Increase the Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT): The TOT is a tax paid by visitors on their hotel bills. Increasing the TOT would also require voter approval. Even if we doubled the current TOT, that would only bring in an extra $2-$2.5 million annually, (Source: City of Folsom Department of Finance) which is not enough to provide for future, long-term needs.
• Developer Fees: Otherwise known as impact fees, these are collected and used for facilities to serve the new homes and neighborhoods. Developers also pay the new development’s percentage of costs for shared and expansion of existing facilities. Developer fees cannot be used for existing facilities or shortcomings.
• Stormwater Fees – Folsom is the only jurisdiction in Sacramento County that does not charge homeowners, businesses and rental units a stormwater fee. The fee ranges from $10-20 a month for a house in other jurisdictions in Sacramento County. A fee in Folsom would generate about $2 million, BUT would only be used for stormwater and all the burden falls on property owners or is passed on to renters.

The city’s current sales tax rate is $7.75%, the state law minimum plus a ½ cent for County transportation. Out of the 7.75% the city only gets 1% or one cent per dollar. When we buy online, Folsom only receives a fraction of the one cent.

With Measure G – the city gets all the additional revenue to be used ONLY in Folsom for the services in the measure – police, fire, parks/trails, street repair and stormwater, capital projects and economic development.

NO. Measure G expressly provides that it can ONLY be used for the six specific purposes in the measure. Measure G funds are NOT intermixed with the General Fund. Unfortunately, some will claim it can be used for other purposes and are either trying to intentionally mislead or have not read the measure.

City Attorney Ballot Title Summary Folsom Residents Public Safety and Quality of Life Measure filed 12-05-2023 v2

Final Folsom Residents Public Safety and Quality of Life Act 12.4 filed 12-04-2023

You can read sections 3.140.040 and 3.140.050 of Measure G that state the funds “shall solely be used in the City of Folsom for the purposes described in this Act.”

Additionally, Measure G requires that a nine-member Citizens Oversight Committee be established to ensure accountability and transparency. The committee is open to the public and will make recommendations on how money should be used. An independent, annual audit is required and will be done to demonstrate how the funds have been spent. Furthermore, Measure G is written to become a part of the Folsom Municipal Code. This means that by law, the money can only be used as outlined in the measure.

Folsom’s City Manager makes less money than the city managers of Rancho Cordova, Elk Grove, and Roseville and slightly more than the city managers of Citrus Heights and Galt. In other words, the Folsom City Manager’s pay is in the middle of the pack for our region.

People have asked if Measure G supports any projects outside City of Folsom limits or whether it is affiliated with any particular project. The answer is simple … NO.

The residents and citizens’ groups that initiated and advanced Measure G are not affiliated with any project outside the City of Folsom boundaries. Measure G is solely and exclusively to support police, fire and other essential services only in the City of Folsom. Supporting Measure G is designed to increase public safety and advance the quality of life in the community of Folsom.

Many of the items these residents need (groceries, prescriptions, healthcare) are not subject to a sales tax. Also, because this sector of residents rely more heavily on city services on a daily basis, the consequences for them are much greater if these services are cut or eliminated. Because all of the funds raised by this measure stay in Folsom and cannot be redirected to the state or county, the residents of Folsom benefit more.

According to data from the Folsom Department of Finance, as much as 40 percent of the sales tax generated every year comes from visitors who also benefit from Folsom’s public services, but do not live within Folsom city limits.

The State of California has a deficit of billions of dollars. The County of Sacramento has giant needs of its own and the federal government … well … don’t hold your breath. WE CANNOT LOOK TO OTHERS TO HELP US SOLVE OUR FINANCIAL PROBLEMS. The city is a better steward of tax dollars and we will have transparency on every dollar of sales tax collected under Measure G.  We must preserve Folsom’s future.

To meet the city’s revenue needs, we’d need to build a second location for every one of our top 25 tax revenue-generating businesses (Walmart, Sam’s, Target, Costco, etc.), and then double the number of customers currently shopping at these stores, which is simply unrealistic. Economic development can help, but it doesn’t get us there alone. (Source: MuniServices/Avenu Insights & Analytics)

Folsom currently has one of the lowest sales tax rates in Sacramento County, tied only with Citrus Heights. With additional revenues at their disposal, neighboring jurisdictions have the revenues to offer services and incentives to support their local economy, which places the City of Folsom at an economic disadvantage.