Committee for a Safer Merced submits thousands of signatures in support of Measure C

Supporters of Measure C submitted more than 4,000 signatures to the Merced City Clerk on Monday in an effort to have the measure placed on the upcoming presidential primary ballot.

The Committee for a Safer Merced, led by chairperson and former City of Merced Mayor Mike Murphy, submitted a box containing thousands of signatures from Merced voters at in an effort to secure the placement of an initiative to renew the public safety tax on the March 2024 presidential primary ballot. The committee kicked off a petition drive in April in an effort to gather the required number of signatures.

The existing Measure C was approved in 2006. The half-cent sales tax provides funds for public safety officers, as well as resources for emergency responses and improvements to roads. The measure, which affects residents in the City of Merced, failed to garner the support necessary to be placed on the Nov. 2022 ballot.

According to Murphy, 3,988 valid signatures were required to secure the measure’s placement on the 2024 ballot. The Committee for a Safer Merced collected a total of more than 5,000 signatures in support of the measure — 4,933 of which are believed to be valid.

Murphy said a third party service was used to validate the signatures submitted to the Merced City Clerk office, which remain to be vetted by the Merced County Registrar of Voters.

“This is not a new funding source, this is not a new tax,” said Murphy. “This is providing stability for what the city has been doing since 2006.”

Murphy said that if the measure does not pass in March, the city could lose more than 30 sworn police officer and firefighter positions.

According to City of Merced officials in January of 2022, Measure C funded more than 30 fire department and police jobs. Last November, opponents of the tax voiced frustration saying the city made little effort to engage residents over how the tax would proceed if renewed.

The new Measure C is expected to be similar to the existing measure, including the half-cent sales tax. Proponents of the new Measure C say it will also fund police and fire protection and road maintenance with a 20-year sunset date.

According to proponents of the measure, where the new measure will differ from the existing measure is that it can only be used for the approved aforementioned uses.

Murphy, along with supporters of the measure that included public safety personnel, presented the committee’s efforts to the Merced City Council during Monday’s city council meeting.

A proponent of the measure, Peg Larson, 67, of Merced, said the signatures gathered by herself and other supporters with the committee show that people care about the measure and the safety of Merced.

“That’s our goal is to make sure that people understand, educate themselves and know that this is a continuation of the current Measure C, not an additional tax,” said Larson.

Larson said it took the committee just over three months to gather the current number of signatures.