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TRAMUTOLA ENDS 2007 WITH 4 WINS TO COMPLETE 9 FOR 9 YEAR
VISIT US AT THE CSBA CONFERENCE AND SEE HOW WE CAN HELP YOU
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On November 6, 2007 TRAMUTOLA guided 4 school district ballot measures to victory. These wins capped a perfect 9 for 9 year in which we passed 6 parcel tax measures, 2 bond measures and achieved voter approval for the unification of 4 elementary school districts and a high school district. Below you will find a short summary of each of our 2007 election wins. For a full list of our 212 election victories, samples of our work or more information on our firm, please visit our website at
www.tramutola.com.
If you plan to be at the CSBA conference in San Diego this week, please stop by and meet us at Booth #211. You can also hear Larry Tramutola speak about planning for a successful bond election at a CSBA workshop on Thursday November 29th. Details are below.
We are proud to be California’s bond and tax election experts. We are eager to discuss how we might help you. Feel free to email us at
info@tramutola.com
or call us at (510) 658-7003.
Meet the TRAMUTOLA team at the 2007 CSBA Conference
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California School Boards Association
2007 Annual Conference
November 29 - December 1, 2007
San Diego Convention Center
TRAMUTOLA
Booth # 211
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Stop by and visit….
- LEARN about TRAMUTOLA’s services and tax election expertise
- TALK to us about your District’s needs and challenges
- DISCOVER how we can help your next ballot measure succeed
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We look forward to seeing you in San Diego.
For more information or to schedule a personal consultation
Contact: Alison Kastama - 510-658-7003 Ext 18
Hear Larry Tramutola speak about winning bond elections
If you’re going to the CSBA Annual Conference
DON’T MISS THIS IMPORTANT SESSION
Thursday, November 29 8:30 - 9:45 am
“How to Maximize Your G.O. Bond While Maintaining Voter Support”
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LARRY TRAMUTOLA will lead a panel of experts who discuss how to develop a bond measure that is sufficient to meet your district’s needs and achieve voter support. While many districts are successful in passing Prop. 39 bond measures, millions of revenue dollars have been “left on the table” by districts opting for the “safe” route of going for a low bond amount and tax rate instead of determining the bond level voters would actually be willing to support. Establishing the appropriate bond amount and tax rate is not easy. Ask voters for too much and you risk losing their support. Asking for too little means cutting back your facility plan and having to go back for more later. Come hear how to balance these issues and maximize your bond measure while maintaining voter support. |
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TRAMUTOLA’s 2007 School Election Wins
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Lafayette School District
Measure J - $313 per parcel with COLA/7 years – 73.1% Yes - November 2007 |
 With the District’s $132 parcel tax set to expire, TRAMUTOLA worked with the administration and board members to carefully craft a renewal and increase that would address the fiscal shortfall resulting from dramatically declining enrollment. The plan also had to be politically sensitive to this community’s conservative anti-tax reputation. In fact, two parcel taxes for police and roads had failed in Lafayette in the past year. Despite aggressive opposition from the local taxpayers association,
we organized hundreds of parents to mount a thorough grass roots outreach effort that delivered thousands of absentee ballots from supporters and turned out many more on Election day. In Lafayette, our success was the result of careful planning, smart messaging that communicated the benefit of good schools to those voters without kids in school, and a strong organization to turn out voters. |
Walnut Valley Unified School District
Measures S - $64.4 million bond 61.2%
Yes and Measure Y - $15.2 million bond - 56.8% Yes - November 2007 |
 The 15,325 students of the Walnut Valley Unified School District will soon benefit from almost $105 million in renovations and upgrades following the successful passage of Measures S and Y on November 6th. After completing feasibility and public opinion research in the Walnut Valley community, TRAMUTOLA recommended a concurrent two bond strategy to ensure both core academic and physical education facility upgrades could be adequately supported at the ballot. Measures S and Y, backed by a well-organized and exceptionally strong volunteer campaign, passed at 61.18% YES (Measure S) and 56.83% YES (Measure Y).
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Measure S, a $64.4M general obligation bond measure to fund core academic facility renovations including roof, heating and ventilation, safety, classroom and equipment upgrades, will ensure an additional $25M in state-matching funds for Walnut Valley USD. Measure Y, a $15.2M general obligation bond, will fund the renovation of physical education facilities and upgrades to school grounds.
Unification of Rio Linda Union School District, North Sacramento School District,
Del Paso Heights School District and Grant Joint Union High School District
Measure B – 60.5% Yes – November 2007 |
 The approval of Measure B by north Sacramento voters creates a new unified school district. The new district will unifying Rio Linda Union School District, North Sacramento School District, Del Paso Heights School District and Grant Joint Union High School District. TRAMUTOLA worked with community members, educational leaders and state and local elected officials to pass this historic measure. Direct mail focused on the academic improvements and new efficiency Measure B would provide. Superintendents, teachers, and parents attended nightly phone banks to call thousands of voters to answer questions and explain the importance of unification. Measure B overwhelmingly passed with over 60% of the vote. The new unified school district will improve academic standards, reduce bureaucracy and qualify local schools for additional state funding.
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Emery Unified School District
Measure A - 15 cents per square foot/10 Years - 86.9% Yes – June 2007 |
 Emery USD has a parcel tax based on the square footage of properties within the district rather than a flat rate per parcel in order to take advantage of the large commercial and industrial parcels that comprise the majority of properties within the district’s boundaries. TRAMUTOLA worked with the district to place Measure A on the June ballot to increase the district’s square footage tax to 15 cents per square foot and extended the tax for an additional 10 years. The campaign in support of the tax told the story of the remarkable progress Emeryville schools have accomplished since the creation of this tax in 2003. Each year since voters approved this funding for Emeryville schools, student test scores have improved. The outstanding 86.9% Yes vote on June 5th is a strong mandate to continue the programs and services that have led to real progress in Emeryville schools.
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Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District
Measure P - $209 per parcel/5 years - 79.9% Yes – June 2007 |
 During the state budget crisis of 2003 TRAMUTOLA worked with the Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District to pass a $173 parcel tax to prevent significant teacher layoffs, class size increases and other cuts to core instructional programs. With that measure set to expire, Palos Verdes schools looked to renew the parcel tax and increase the rate to account for inflation. TRAMUTOLA recommended that the district increase the rate to $209 and extend the tax for an additional 5 years. An early public information campaign informed the community of the cuts that would be required if the tax expired. Subsequently, an aggressive voter
contact campaign identified supporters and turned them out to vote. On Election Day, this combination of strategies produced a comfortable win that will likely exceed 80% support when all the absentee and provisional ballots are counted. This is our 5th consecutive successful ballot measure for Palos Verdes Peninsula USD. We are proud of our longstanding and consistently successful relationship with one of California’s top performing school districts. |
Petaluma City Elementary School District
Measure D - $75 per parcel/No sunset 75.5% Yes – May 2007 |
 With the expiration of their parcel tax approaching, Petaluma district officials asked TRAMUTOLA to investigate the possibility of making the parcel tax permanent to create a stable and predictable revenue source that the district could count on for long term planning. Using thorough opinion research TRAMUTOLA recommended that the elementary schools join forces with the overlapping high school district to run a joint campaign to make their respective parcel taxes permanent. We also steered the districts to a May mail-in ballot election and developed a strategy to identify supporters of the measures who would not normally turn out to vote in a single issue special election and used the mail ballot process to ensure these supporters voted in large numbers. |
Petaluma Joint Union High School District
Measure C - $50 per parcel/No sunset - 75.9% Yes – May 2007 |
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To maximize the efficient use of limited campaign resources,
TRAMUTOLA recommended a joint
campaign for both the elementary schools and secondary
schools in Petaluma. This
was
complicated given that
the districts overlap but do
not share common borders. However, a carefully
targeted and coordinated campaign
delivered over 75% support for making both the elementary
and high school parcel taxes permanent. These measures will continue in perpetuity until the
districts choose
to stop collecting the taxes or voters vote to repeal the taxes. |
San Marino Unified School District
Measure R - $295 per parcel with COLA/6 Years - 71.5% Yes – March 2007 |
 TRAMUTOLA worked with San Marino to craft a measure for the March ballot to renew their expiring parcel tax for six additional years, increase the tax rate from $195 per parcel per year to $295 and also add a built-in cost of living adjustment to ensure that parcel tax revenue keeps pace with inflation. A vigorous campaign focusing on the importance of maintaining the quality of San Marino schools and the impact of good schools on property values yielded 71.5% “Yes” votes from those who voted in March. |
2008 will be a busy election year with a number of ballot opportunities available.
School districts seeking to pass a bond or parcel tax may well find themselves
competing with other local measures for tax dollars.
TRAMUTOLA is known for our ability to pass tough elections in difficult
electoral climates. We can help you choose the right election date and
design a measure that voters will support.
For more information contact TRAMUTOLA
Phone: 510-658-7003
Email: info@tramutola.com
www.tramutola.com
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