Council members will decide between adopting the ordinance without alteration or immediately ordering an election, at which time the ordinance would be submitted to a vote by city voters during the November 2018 election. Their third option would be to direct city staff to prepare an analysis of the initiative’s business and fiscal impact.
“If I was going to think consistency and go with how city has acted in past, I suspect the council will lean toward putting it on the ballot,” he added.
While the item’s agenda report estimated getting the initiative on the ballot would cost from $58,206 to $77,608, Coletti said the city is confusing the total cost for an election with the cost of adding a single item to an existing ballot and that it would actually be much less.
“As an example, it only cost the city $8,500 to add Measure P (the unsuccessful admissions tax) to the November, 2016 ballot,” said Coletti.