Last November, Sacramento County, California, floated a countywide tax hike to fund transportation projects. The measure would have funded a light-rail extension to the airport, the widening of a local freeway, and other projects. All seven cities in the county backed the effort, and Sacramento’s mayor loaned the campaign $200,000.
It won the support of more than 65 percent of Sacramento County voters. But in the uniquely byzantine world of California planning and finance, that meant it failed.
