Hospital parcel tax passes

Sonoma Valley voters on Tuesday passed by a healthy margin Measure B, a five-year tax of $195 per parcel to help fund operations of the Sonoma Valley Hospital.
The final, unofficial tally at 10:43 p.m. showed the parcel tax — which needed 66 percent support to win – passing by a 73.7 percent margin.
A total of 7,588 ballots were cast in favor of Measure B, compared to 2,707 no votes, or 26.3 percent.
“Oh gosh, I’m so happy tonight,” said Joanne Hurley, one of about 40 Measure B supporters who gathered at campaign headquarters, a vacant former jewelry store in the El Mercado just off Sonoma’s plaza.
Campaign organizer Bill Boerum said that the Measure B campaign spent $100,000 and enlisted the help of Santa Rosa campaign consultant Rob Muelrath as well as two out-of-state phone bank firms.
The campaign’s strategy, he said, was to use voter surveys to identify those who supported the parcel tax or were undecided. The campaign repeatedly urged those people to vote yes through such means as phone calls and letters, including 10,000 letters that doctors sent to their patients.
As for foes to the parcel tax, Boerum said the strategy was “not to engage the opponents.”
“This was a quiet, stealth campaign,” he said. “We didn’t do any advertising. We didn’t want to rouse the ‘no’ vote.”
The final, unofficial tally showed a 51 percent turnout, with 10,310 votes out of a total of 20,148 registered voters.
Large contributors to the campaign, according to Boerum, including Bob and Carolyn Stone, who donated $20,000; two physician groups that donated $20,000; Les Vadasz, who gave $10,000; and Don Sebastiani who donated $5,000.
Hurley thought the doctors’ participation helped decide the vote.
“I think the big assistance in all of this was the medical community… the doctors, the nurses and staff coming out and saying, ‘We need a hospital.’”
Carolyn Stone was among those celebrating Tuesday night at campaign headquarters.
“What would we do, if we didn’t have (the hospital)?” she asked. “We’ve got to live a little bit longer until we have our new hospital.”