FAQs
FAQs about Measure I
Questions our friends, coworkers, and neighbors ask us about Measure I. All our answers come from the Town of Windsor’s Measure I FAQ page.
Others are taken from as staff reports, PowerPoint presentations, and other materials presented to the Windsor Town Council, commissions, or at public meetings. Other answers have been drawn from video archives of Windsor Town Council meetings.
Use the buttons below to go directly to the FAQs by topic.
To access the official Measure I page on the Town of Windsor website, click here.
To access archived videos of Town Council meetings, click here.
Oversight & Accountability
How would Measure I fix Windsor's funding shortage?
Measure I would add 1 cent (1%) per dollar spent on taxable items bought inside Town limits. That 1 cent would stay right here in Windsor and restore and maintain Town services like police, streets, and parks.
The 1% sales tax will add 1 cent to a $1 purchase, or $1 to a $100 purchase. And all of the new funding will be controlled and used only in Windsor.
Oversight and Accountability for Every Penny
How do we know the Town of Windsor will really spend Measure I money on police staffing, shortening 911 response times, maintaining our streets, wildfire prevention, and our parks?
The current Town Council members are on record stating that priorities for Measure I spending are Police, emergency response times, street maintenance, parks maintenance and wildfire prevention.
All Measure I money will be tracked independently within the general fund, from collection through spending, and documented in public reports.
The Measure I money will be audited along with the rest of Windsor's finances in the Town's annual audit, conducted by an independent CPA firm. The audit reports are presented to the Town Council and are public records. Those reports will include a section outlining the Measure I audit findings.
The Town will create a special citizen review committee to oversee Measure I money and its use, and report findings to the Town Council. The reports will be public documents.
In July (2026), the Town Council passed an ordinance and a fiscal transparency policy that will make all future town budgets and annual independent financial audits easier to quickly understand. They will inlcude a "plain English" summary of the fiscal documents.
Read the Town's Fiscal and Measure I transparency policy here. (pdf)
Need
Has the Town cut expenses to address its funding shortage?
Yes. During the past year, the Town of Windsor cut all department budgets by 10 percent. Department heads worked with employees to come up with ideas for cutting expenses while maintaining service levels, and working more efficiently with less.
The 10 percent across-the-board cuts, plus an informal hiring freeze for three police positions and seven other staff positions, totaled cuts of over $6 million.
Then, on the recommendation of Town staff, the Town Council approved another package of cuts. They put off $5 million in scheduled road and park maintenance work. They also reduced weed abatement, and cut the number of community events, including summer Concerts on the Town Green.
That's $11 million in belt-tightening: $6 million in staff positions and $5 million in postponed maintenance work on our streets, parks, fire prevention weed whacking, and Town contributions to special events on the Town Green.
If we don't approve Measure I more cuts are coming - and they'll be drastic.
Do we already have a local sales tax in place?
No. Windsor is the ONLY city in Sonoma County that does not have a local sales tax to help pay for needed town services.
The sales tax we pay in Windsor does not stay in Windsor. It goes to the state and county. Only 1% (1 cent per dollar spent) of California sales tax people pay when they shop in Windsor comes back to Windsor. That’s the “base” amount all cities receive from state sales taxes.
If voters approve Measure I, Windsor will receive 2 cents (2%) for every dollar in purchases made in our town.
That additional 1 penny (1%) is expected to bring Windsor up to $5.7 million annually to preserve and protect our Town services.
All other cities in Sonoma County have passed an additional penny (1%) or fraction-of-a-penny sales tax to maintain and protect services for their residents.
Cost
Will that be added to all purchases?
No. Groceries, prescription medicine and other essential items are exempt. There is no sales tax on the things we need to survive and thrive every day:
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Groceries: Fruits, Vegetables, meat, poultry, eggs, bread & more
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Dairy Products: Milk, cheese, yogurt, butter, ice cream* (*bought in a grocery store)
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Water
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Doctor and Hospital fees
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Prescription medications
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Women's period products
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Diapers, Baby food
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Cable/Internet, phone, energy and water bills
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Rent & Mortgages
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Plus a number of other "necessary" items
How would Measure I fix Windsor's funding shortage?
Measure I would add 1 cent (1%) per dollar spent on taxable items bought inside Town limits. That 1 cent would stay right here in Windsor and restore and maintain Town services like police, streets, and parks.
The 1% sales tax will add 1 cent to a $1 purchase, or $1 to a $100 purchase. And all of the new funding will be controlled and used only in Windsor.
Essential items we need to buy in order to survive and thrive are exempt from Measure I - and all state sales tax.
What Happens Without Measure I?
How does Windsor’s sales tax compare to other Sonoma County cities?
Windsor is the only Sonoma County town without its own local sales tax. Every other city in the County has a higher sales tax rate than ours to protect their town services.
As of spring 2026, these are the sales tax rates in all Sonoma County cities. Whenever you shop in these cities, you are already paying a higher sales tax rate — and helping fund their police, parks, and roads instead of Windsor’s.
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Sebastopol – 10.50%
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Cotati – 10.25%
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Petaluma – 10.25%
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Sonoma – 10.25%
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Cloverdale – 10.00%
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Santa Rosa – 10.00%
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Rohnert Park – 9.75%
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Healdsburg – 9.75%
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Windsor - 9.25%
If voters approve Measure I, Windsor will still have a lower sales tax than the majority of cities in the County.
Basically, the town will start to go downhill. Fast.
Windsor will have no way to fix its $4.2 million per year budget shortfall. The cuts will start immediately.
If Windsor voters do not pass Measure I:
For 2027, Windsor will be forced to cut all summer concerts and movies on the Green, end financial support for Town parades, and the Windsor Farmer's Market, cut Windsor Senior Center pool season by two months, and lay off 33 employees. That is almost one third of our town's 117-member full time staff.
And that's just next year.
The people opposing Measure I have said from the beginning that the Town of Windsor needs to slash employee salaries and lay off workers, to "trim the fat" that surely must be there. They've said we don't need the three police officers we've already lost - the sergeant, the K-9 officer and dog, and the traffic officer. They will cheer if Measure I fails. But they won't be cheering for long.
Neither will the rest of us. Because most of the things that make Windsor a wonderful place to live will be gone. No more Thursday Night Concerts on the Green, and Sunday Farmers' Market. No more Summer Movie Nights on the Green. No more Sunday Morning Farmer's Market. No more Windsor Days Parade. No More Fiestas Patrias de Windsor. Unless some White Knight or business consortium sweeps in to pay $1 million for them, they disappear in 2027.
What else happens? Click here to go to the full "What Happens if Measure I doesn't pass?" page for specific cuts already approved by the Town Council in case Measure I does not pass.
It's not a pretty picture.