Manteca businesses, labor groups, firefighters, local residents, youth sports organizations, and builders have a lot riding on Measure Q on Tuesday’s ballot.

As of Oct. 27, the Yes on Q Committee has now  raised $103,549.30 to fund its campaign to gain passage of the 20-year long three-quarter cent sales tax on Nov. 5.

The latest donation is $5,000 from the Build Jobs political action committee.

The amount raised so far constitutes a record for donations to fund a Manteca ballot initiative.

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.

The is a low-key campaign opposing Measure Q.

Given the group is keeping their expenses under $1,000 they are not required under California law to report donations to fund their efforts.

This is actually the fourth tax measure put before voters in the past 20 years.

In 2004, a general unrestricted have cent tax measure only garnered 18 percent in terms of yes votes.

There was no organized effort to pass it or oppose it.

Two years later, Measure M — the half cent public safety tax restricted to funding and equipping frontline firefighters and police officers — passed with more than two thirds of the vote.

The third effort was Measure Z, an unrestricted one cent sales tax request that the city did not even outline a general spending plan in terms of what they would do with funding if it passed.

There wasn’t a committee formed to campaign for passage.

There was, however, a low-key “no” effort.

The 2020 tax measure 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.

This time around, the Manteca Police Officers Association and Manteca Firefighters Association have endorsed the tax measure. Two council members — Mike Morowit and Jose Nuno — contributed funds to the yes committee.

The city also provided a general outline of what the money raised would be used for this time around although there aren’t ironclad restriction as it was with Measure M in 2006.

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 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