When the City of Lathrop approved Measure C – a one cent sales tax increase for essential city services and public safety – for the ballot in 2012, the city estimated that it would generate $2 million every year.

It has taken less than a decade for that amount to triple.

Last month the city’s Measure C Oversight Committee – an independent commission to provide guidance to the Lathrop City Council about matters pertaining to the fund – was updated on the actual budget for the 2018/19 calendar year.

The $6,610,315 generated during the budget cycle – more than $3.9 million for essential city services and more than $2.6 million for the Lathrop Manteca Fire District – is providing the city with the flexibility to pay for police officers, firefighters, essential personnel and a number of capital projects.

According to the report prepared for the oversight committee appointees, Measure C is paying for 5.5 police positions – two community impact team deputies, an administrative sergeant, a school resource officer, a detective, and half of a traffic officer (the remainder provided by the city’s general fund).

Lathrop is also using the money it receives every year to pay for the operation and staffing of the Lathrop Generations Center, as well as capital projects including a lighted crosswalk near the Generations Center and Lathrop High School, additional parking space at the Lathrop Generations Center, and surveillance cameras that will be located throughout the City of Lathrop.

Because the Lathrop Manteca Fire District partnered with the city on the implementation of 

Measure C – helping to get it passed after a failed property tax increase left the agency in financial dire straits – the agency receives 40 percent of the overall revenue generated and has been using that money to pay for two battalion chief positions as well as that of six line firefighters that would otherwise be paid for out of their general fund.

And with the recent decertification of the 65-foot ladder on the city’s backup truck, Lathrop Manteca is requesting that the commission approve the purchase of secondary backup truck that will be used in the event the agency’s recently purchased 100-foot ladder truck becomes inoperable.

The $550,000 expenditure – which is nearly half of what the used truck would cost if it were brand new – is scheduled to be purchased by Measure C funding. According to city staff, the expenditure in aligned with the intent of Measure C.

To contact reporter Jason Campbell email jcampbell@mantecabulletin.com or call 209.249.3544.