The Yes on Q Committee as of Thursday has raised $113,686 to fund its campaign to gain passage of the 20-year long three-quarter cent sales tax on the Nov. 5 ballot.

The latest donations include 1,000 from the political action committee of the Building Industry Association of the Great Valley.

It is the same PAC that made a $5,500  donation — a record for a City of Manteca council campaign  — to Area 2 candidate Regina Lackey.

Lackey, it should be noted, opposes Measure Q as does Gabe Galletta who is also running for the seat.

The third Area 2 candidate for the southeast Manteca seat, Judith Blumhorst, supports the tax measure that is projected to raise $13 million annually to fund municipal services if it passes.

Blumhorst made a personal $100 donation to help with the yes campaign.

The contributions to the Yes on Q campaign have been made by a mix of builders, unions, local businesses, local organizations, and individual Manteca residents.

Among the donations was $1,000 from the Manteca Futbol Club, $1,000 from the Manteca Firefighters Association, $1,000 from Operating Engineers Unit 3, $2,000 from Nectar Manteca (a storefront cannabis dispensary opening soon in Manteca), $1,000 from City Manager Toni Lundgren, $500 from His Way Recovery, $500 from Councilman Mike Morowit, and $100 from Manteca Councilman Jose Nuno.

The committee had $50,996 on hand as of Sept. 21.

The $113,686 is the largest amount by far collected for a Manteca municipal ballot measure.

It eclipses the effort in 2006 to secure passage of the public safety measure by more than 10-fold.

It is the second highest so far for any municipal election campaign.

The record is held by Gary Singh in his successful 2020 race for mayor when he accumulated $128,303.

Measure Q is designed to raise $13 million annually to help upgrade city streets and enhance public safety.

It also is targeted to help leverage bonds wedded with growth fees to build city facilities such as a new police station and enable the city to replace against and problematic equipment such as fire engines in a timely manner, among other things.

 The financial support for the Measure Q campaign is a complete reversal of the last effort in 2020 that would have raised the city sales tax a cent that failed by 1,376 votes.

Elected leaders — or even city employees in leadership roles — didn’t open their wallets to run a campaign because there was none.

Thos time around, the Manteca Police Officers Association and Manteca Firefighters Association have endorsed the tax measure.

The treasurer for the Yes on Measure Q is Ron Light.

Board members include Lundgren, Manteca Police Chief Stephen Schluer, and Manteca Fire Battalion Chief Sterrie McLeod.

For more information on the committee, access “Manteca YES on Measure Q” on Facebook.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com