Frequently Asked Questions

Measure Z is a half-cent local sales tax passed by voters in 2014 and renewed in 2018. Funds from Measure Z are used for public safety and essential services. Funds have been used to maintain 24-hour Sheriff deputy patrols, improve 9-1-1 emergency response, enhance crime investigation and prosecution, provide additional services for victims of child abuse, strengthen mental health services for children and more. Volunteer fire departments have received necessary equipment including breathing apparatuses, wildland and structural turnouts, rescue tools, funding for dispatch services and training towers. This local revenue source is also providing funding for rural ambulance, drug task force services, brush cutting along roadways to prevent wildfires and school resource officers in local public schools.

Through 2018 when Measure Z was placed on the ballot for renewal, Humboldt County had suffered more than $368 million in state takeaways that significantly impacted the county’s budget Measure Z is voter-approved, locally-controlled funding that cannot be taken by Sacramento. With Measure Z, it provides a guaranteed source of local funding that cannot be taken by the state that maintain current essential services, including:

• Maintaining 9-1-1 emergency response times
• Providing services for those who have experienced child abuse
• Maintaining rural ambulance and fire protection services
• Providing additional mental health services for children
• Ensuring there are sheriff’s deputies on-duty 24 hours a day

Measure Z is a voter-approved half-cent sales tax that does not apply to prescription medications or grocery food purchases. It is also paid by visitors and tourists. Measure Z is subject to strict community and fiscal accountability, including annual independent audits and community input from a citizens’ advisory committee to ensure funds are spent responsibly and efficiently.

Some of the public safety projects that have been funded by the Board of Supervisors with Measure Z funds include:

• Providing critical funding for fire equipment and planning services for volunteer fire departments.
• Maintaining ambulance service for K’ima:w Medical Center and Southern Trinity Area Rescue (STAR) serving communities in Hoopa and the greater Willow Creek area near Highways 299 and 36, respectively.
• Providing rural patrol and deputies by hiring additional staff in the Sheriff’s Office.
• Continuing to fight drugs by providing funding to the Fortuna Police Department (FPD) for a drug task force agent, and making schools across the Eel River Valley safer by funding FPD’s School Resource Officer.
• Continuing the life-saving funding of Genasys Protect, the county's evacuation zone map that helps officials prepare for and streamline the county’s emergency evacuation process.
• Purchase of enhanced safety equipment, including ballistic blankets, breaching kits and ballistic shields for the City of Eureka Police Department.
• Replacing equipment within the water treatment plant in the City of Trinidad to be able to continue to provide clean, safe drinking water to residents.

View past Measure Z recipients and the projects they supported.

Each year, typically during the month of February, the Humboldt County Citizens’ Advisory Committee on Measure Z Expenditures accepts applications for funding from local agencies. During the month of March, the committee evaluates the applications and ranks them by their priority. In April, the County Administrative Office provides the finalized list to the Board of Supervisors and recommends funding projects on the committee's list.

Learn more about applying for Measure Z funds.

Yes. Measure Z was renewed in 2018 by Humboldt County voters.

Budget limitations had reduced Sheriff patrol coverage, which led to long response times for both emergency and non-emergency calls. At the same time, volunteer fire departments, despite limited resources, continue to play a critical role in protecting lives and property across the county. Measure Z is addressing these public safety needs by maintaining 9-1-1 emergency response times, ensuring sheriff’s deputies are on duty 24 hours a day and sustaining rural ambulance and fire protection services. It also provides vital resources like equipment and training for volunteer firefighters and first responders, allowing them to better, and more safely, protect county residents.

The county will continue to keep the community informed about Measure Z. For more information, please visit HumboldtGov.org/MeasureZ.

Protective and counseling services for the victims and witnesses of child abuse had been severely reduced in recent years. The renewal of Measure Z helps to restore these services and protect children who have experienced horrible crimes.

Yes. Following its renewal, Measure Z continues to require community and fiscal accountability, including financial audits and an independent citizens’ advisory committee will continue to review Measure Z funds to ensure they are spent efficiently on public priorities. By law, all Measure Z funding must be spent locally, and none can be taken by the state.