Fort Bragg city council candidates to appear at forum Sept. 19

FORT BRAGG., CA., 9/16/24 — Fort Bragg’s City Council candidates have been invited to participate in a Sept. 19 forum by the League of Women Voters of Mendocino County.

Lindy Peters, a former mayor and the longest-serving councilmember, is the only incumbent in the race among five candidates for two seats to be decided on Nov. 5. Mayor Bernie Norvell will be moving onto the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors after winning that race earlier this year, meaning the town will have a new mayor after the elections. The mayoral choice is normally made right after the elections by the council; councilmembers pick the mayor from among its members. The new councilmembers will be sworn in late December or January.

The candidates (ages provided at time of August filing):

• Lindy Peters, 71,  incumbent, and former mayor, has served on the council more than once, starting in the 1990s, then returning more than a decade ago.
• Melissa “Mel” Salazar, 32, is a diversity program manager.
• Bethany Brewer, 44, has had a variety of roles in the community as a volunteer. She has worked as a Success Coach in a grant program in local schools funded through the Fort Bragg Police Department. 
• Ryan Bushnell, 38, is a local equipment operator and former volunteer firefighter. He got involved in local politics when the idea of changing Fort Bragg’s name was suggested in 2020, joining a commission to discuss the issue. He opposes changing the name of the town. 
• Scott Hockett, 43, has been a leader in Noyo Harbor business and commercial fishing organizations. 

Bushnell and Hockett signs appeared together in the Paul Bunyan Parade including on the Fort Bragg Forever float, which was made up of residents who oppose changing the name of the town. The race will be won by the top two vote-getters regardless of the percentage of the vote they get, said Fort Bragg City Manager Isaac Whippy.

The candidate forum will be held September 19, from 6-7:30 p.m at Fort Bragg Town Hall. A League of Women Voters member will moderate the forum. Candidates will give opening statements. Written questions will be taken from the audience, as many as time allows. The forum will conclude with closing statements from each candidate, according to the League.

Two tax measures also on ballot 

Fort Bragg city voters will also be asked to decide Measure T, a proposed increase to the city’s sales tax, and Measure U, which would increase the transient occupancy tax. The plan to raise the two taxes followed a mid-year budget workshop in March 2024 when city staff presented a budget picture for the next five years that involved cuts if tax increases were not made.

Fort Bragg’s council rejected a similar sales tax in 2022, when three other sales tax measures were on the ballot. Measure T would raise sales taxes in the city by 0.375 cents. The city of Fort Bragg rate already has a local special sales tax of 1 percent and Mendocino County has a local tax of 0.625. Per state law, the combined rate of all local sales taxes generally cannot exceed two percent. The state has a 7.25 sales tax rate. So if this new sales tax passes, people buying something at a retail store in Fort Bragg would pay an estimated 9.25 cents on every dollar spent.

Measure U would impose a two percent increase in the rate of Fort Bragg’s transient occupancy tax. The transient occupancy tax (TOT) is collected by operators of motels and hotels from guests who stay at a hotel for thirty consecutive days or less. The current rate of the tax is 12 percent of the room rent charged by the hotel operator. Measure U would add two percent to the TOT rate, resulting in a 14 percent tax on visitors spending the night. The language of the ordinance uses the word “hotel” only, but city codes show the new tax would apply to any rental lasting less than 30 days. Vacation rentals are strictly regulated in Fort Bragg, allowed only in the central business district, on the second or third floor above commercial-use buildings. Both taxes require a simple major to pass, confirmed City Manager Whippy.

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