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Mike Harris Newsletter — September 21, 2026
📞 On Call with Mike Harris | District 3 | September 21, 2026
Hello, Merced,
Anyone who has sat across a budget table from me knows my default setting: skeptical, especially about new taxes. I spent years guarding other people's money before I ever took this seat, and that has not changed. So this week's main item may surprise a few of you. I support Measure B, the one-cent sales tax on your November ballot, and I owe you a plain-English walk through my reasoning.
There is plenty more in here too: a "super" El Niño forecast with Bear Creek's name on it, an inspector general's audit of High-Speed Rail travel spending, genuinely good news about Merced County kindergartners, and a literary festival coming to downtown on Saturday. We are also back in the council chamber tonight. Let's dig in.
🗳️ Where I Stand on Measure B
🔹 My answer is yes, and you deserve to see my math. On Nov. 3, Merced voters will decide the Vital Services Protection Measure, which adds a penny per dollar at the register and is projected to generate about $18 million a year for city services. It stays on the books only until voters choose to end it, and it comes with independent annual audits, public reporting on spending, and review by the Tax Transparency Commission, the same commission I served on before joining the council. I do not support new taxes lightly. I support this one.
→ 📊 By the numbers: The federal grant that currently funds 24 of our firefighters, roughly a quarter of the department's sworn staffing, expires in March 2027. Those positions carry about 60 percent of our advanced life support coverage, put firefighter-paramedics at three of our five stations, and roughly 70 percent of the department's calls are medical. Keeping them costs about $3.6 million a year. On the police side, we field 98 sworn officers today compared to 111 in 2008, in a city that has grown considerably since. And our streets need more than double the roughly $8 million a year we currently have for them. You know emergency response is where I have spent my life, and those fire numbers alone would keep me up at night.
→ 💬 My take: Merced simply does not have the highway retail base that lets cities like Turlock and Manteca fund police, fire, and streets with sales tax collected largely from pass-through shoppers. Until we build that base, and I believe we will as Campus Parkway and other corridors develop, this measure is a bridge, not a destination. My hope is that economic growth eventually delivers the revenue this city needs, and voters can let the tax end exactly as the measure allows. That is what fiscal responsibility looks like in a growing city: honest about the need, structured for accountability, and built to be temporary.
→ ⚡ One more thing: Some will call parks, recreation, and cultural programs "soft" spending. I do not. Our state Cultural District designation pulls visitors downtown, supports local businesses, and generates real economic activity. A city cannot be only pipes and patrol cars. It also has to be a place where people want to live, raise their families, visit, and invest.
👉 See the Enterprise's breakdown
🚨 Public Safety
🔹 A "super" El Niño is in the forecast, and Bear Creek is the homework. On Friday, the Merced County Times reported that forecasters expect an unusually wet winter, with atmospheric rivers aimed at the Central Valley and heightened flood risk to go with them. Our neighborhoods south of Bear Creek remember 2023, when the creek pushed past 26 feet and thousands of residents were forced from their homes. At the council's Sept. 8 flood-control discussion, Mayor Serratto put it plainly: "We are seeing predictions of a very significant rainfall."
→ 🔎 Where things stand: The Bear Creek Restoration Project, backed by $6 million in state funding, has reached 100 percent design along six miles of creek from McKee Road to 16th Street, with construction expected to start in May 2027. The gap I am watching is nearer-term: clearing debris and vegetation from the creek still runs through a slow state permitting process, and this winter will not wait for paperwork. I will keep pressing for that short-term work. You can do your part now: clear your gutters and drains, know whether your block flooded last time, and sign up for emergency alerts below.
👉 Read the storm preparedness report
💼 Economic Development
🔹 High-Speed Rail's travel receipts got audited, and it was not pretty. An inspector general report released Tuesday, Sept. 15 found the Rail Authority paid nearly $600,000 in travel expenses that never should have been reimbursed, including first-class flights and consultant stops at a nightclub, a tiki bar, and a cigar lounge. The Authority says it takes the findings seriously and will work to fix the problems.
→ 💬 My take: This is exactly why the joint City-County letter insists that every commitment to Merced be negotiated, funded, and put in writing before any station decision becomes permanent. We are still awaiting the Authority's formal response to that letter, and reports like this only sharpen my resolve. Demanding accountability from Sacramento is not anti-rail. It is pro-taxpayer, and no part of this city has more riding on that station than downtown.
👉 Read The Merced FOCUS coverage
🔹 Artists, the mural clock is ticking. Applications for the two $10,000 mural projects close Wednesday, Sept. 30, and staff's report on arts spending back to 2022 is due to the council by Oct. 19. If you spoke up this month about fair pay for public art, the strongest statement you can make right now is a proposal with your name on it. Merced's murals helped earn downtown its Cultural District designation, and I want Merced artists holding the brushes.
👉 View current bid opportunities
🩺 Healthcare
🔹 Merced County kindergartners just topped a Valley health ranking worth bragging about. With measles cases rising statewide and 81 Valley schools now below the 95 percent vaccination level needed for herd immunity, The Merced FOCUS reported Friday that Merced County is tied for the Valley's highest kindergarten measles vaccination rate at 97.9 percent. We are also the only Valley county where that rate has climbed since 2022-23.
→ ⚡ Why this matters: The cheapest 911 call is the one that never happens. High vaccination rates protect the newborns, cancer patients, and immunocompromised neighbors who cannot get the shot themselves, and they mean fewer preventable emergencies straining the ambulance coverage I am always pushing to improve. That 97.9 percent is the quiet work of school nurses, pediatricians, promotoras, and parents, and it deserves a round of applause. If your family's records need a checkup, your pediatrician or the county health department can square you away in one visit.
👉 Read the FOCUS vaccination report
📅 Meetings & Community Events
🔹 City Council meeting: tonight, Monday, Sept. 21, 6 p.m. Council Chamber, Merced Civic Center, 678 W. 18th St., second floor. Our next regular meeting after tonight is Monday, Oct. 5. Come tell us what is on your mind, or watch from home.
👉 View agendas, minutes, and video
🔹 Planning Commission: Wednesday, Sept. 23, 6 p.m. Council Chambers, Merced Civic Center. Growth, housing, and land use decisions start in this room, and public seats are always open.
🔹 City Council Candidate Forum for Districts 2 and 6: Thursday, Sept. 24, 5:30 p.m., 645 W. Main St. Not my district, but your vote deserves homework no matter where in Merced you live. Go size up the people who want the job.
🔹 Kids Discovery Station five-year anniversary gala: Friday, Sept. 25, 5 to 9 p.m., 350 W. Yosemite Ave. Five years of hands-on learning for Merced kids is worth celebrating.
🔹 Merced Certified Farmers' Market: Saturday, Sept. 26, morning, downtown Merced. Every Saturday, rain or shine. Given the winter forecast above, enjoy the shine while it lasts.
🔹 Merced Litfest: Saturday, Sept. 26, 1 to 5 p.m., downtown Merced. An afternoon built around books and local writers, capped by a 7 p.m. keynote reading from poet Natalie Scenters-Zapico at the Multicultural Arts Center. This is the college-town Merced I keep talking about. Bring the family.
🔹 Merced County Superintendent of Schools debate: Tuesday, Sept. 29, 6 p.m., 1715 Canal St. Schools shape everything from our workforce to our neighborhoods, and this countywide race deserves a full room.
📢 Stay Connected with Merced
🔹 Get city alerts on your terms. Subscribe Merced lets you pick the topics you want, from emergency notifications to city news, delivered straight to you. With a wet winter in the forecast, this is the two-minute task worth checking off today. If you sign up for nothing else, sign up for the emergency alerts.
👉 Sign up for Subscribe Merced
☎️ The Direct Line
I know reasonable neighbors will land in different places on Measure B, and I especially want to hear from those of you who think I have this one wrong. Call me and make your case. I will listen, I will answer honestly, and between now and November I will keep laying out the facts so you can decide for yourself. You get the final word at the ballot box, exactly as it should be.
My number is (209) 385-6203. You can also reply to this email or write me at HarrisM@cityofmerced.gov. If this was useful, forward it to a neighbor.
See you tonight in the chamber, Merced.
