Measure K
Measure K is a countywide half-cent sales tax extension passed by local voters in November 2016 to support essential County services and to maintain or replace critical facilities. This page provides news and information on how local funds are meeting local needs.
You can find the summary of the Measure K Annual Report for the 2019-20 fiscal year immediately below or by clicking on this link.
COVID-19: Pivoting Public Services During a Pandemic
As the enormity of the COVID-19 pandemic hit this spring, the entire community – parents, seniors, workers, business owners, renters, recent immigrants – looked to the County of San Mateo for public services and leadership.
The County is a large and diverse organization with 5,500 employees across 20 departments. Those employees provide a wide range of services, from protecting public health to filing potholes, running elections to answering 911 calls. The County also contracts with community-based organizations that house the homeless, feed families barely making ends meet and train the unemployed for new careers, among dozens of other services.
The COVID-19 pandemic presented new challenges: How to continue to deliver vital services while guarding against the coronavirus? What new services will be needed?
Managers in programs funded by Measure K responded to the outbreak by supporting employees as they worked at home and shifting service delivery to online models whenever possible.
And as the economy struggled, the Board of Supervisors in March allocated $3 million in Measure K funds as emergency relief for individuals, families, nonprofit organizations and small businesses.
The Board, also in response to the pandemic, has allocated additional Measure K funds to schools in underserved areas of the county, to assist nonprofit agencies serving the most vulnerable residents and in other targeted areas. As the 2020-21 fiscal year began, the Board approved relief and economic recovery efforts with Measure K funds for recent immigrants, homeless families and other segments of the population most in need.

"A single father of two called Second Harvest on the hotline, but he couldn’t ask for help because he couldn’t talk. It was just too much for him that he passed the phone to his young son. I could hear the father crying in the background. I asked the son to put me on speaker, so the dad could hear me. I told them, ‘Everything is going to be okay. You have a referral to get groceries for you and your children and you also have other resources like CalFresh. We’re here when you’re ready.”-- Patricia Cervantes
Performance Summary 2019-20 Fiscal Year
Measure K Category | Initiatives | Performance Measures | Target Met | Target Not Met | Not Met as a Result of COVID-19 | % of Measures Not Met as Result of COVID-19 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Public Safety | 8 | 13 | 10 | 3 | 1 | 33.3% |
Health and Mental Health | 9 | 19 | 10 | 8 | 8 | 100.0% |
Youth and Education | 21 | 49 | 37 | 12 | 10 | 83.3% |
Housing and Homelessness | 30 | 57 | 25 | 23 | 4 | 17.4% |
Parks and Environment | 43 | 43 | 23 | 18 | 12 | 66.7% |
Older Adults and Veterans | 11 | 29 | 18 | 11 | 10 | 90.9% |
Community Services | 17 | 35 | 13 | 13 | 12 | 92.3% |
Note: Totals for Target Met/Not Met may not total the number of Performance Measures. This is due to data under development,
changes to programs or other circumstances as detailed in the performance table.