Sacramento Area Flood Control Agency

The Challenge

The Sacramento Area Flood Control Agency (SAFCA) asked APCO Worldwide to conduct two public outreach campaigns in 2000 and 2007 to raise local matching funds to help pay for flood control projects.

For the first campaign in 2000, APCO was given several months to educate 85,000 property owners before the vote on whether they would support a US$47.4 million financing plan. The second campaign in 2007 involved reaching out to property owners to ask them to vote on a US$326 million financing plan. This proved to be more challenging than the 2000 campaign because property owners were also being asked to vote on the consolidation of two existing assessment districts.

For the second campaign, APCO not only reached out to the same 85,000 property owners from the first campaign, but also asked an additional 55,000 property owners to raise their assessments. APCO additionally had to contend with conducting the campaign several months after California voters had approved a US$4.1 billion disaster preparedness and flood prevention bond, prompting questions as to why the assessment was needed.

The Solution

In both campaigns, APCO managed a 12-member strategy team consisting of SAFCA executives and consultants. The strategy teams studied the financing alternatives, defined the geographic boundaries of the proposed assessment districts and selected assessment formulas. In addition, both campaigns involved mail-in ballots under Proposition 218, which governs the process for creating special benefit assessment districts.

In each campaign, APCO maintained regular contact with more than 500 community-based, neighborhood and homeowner associations; made presentations to business, property owner, environmental and taxpayer organizations; mailed every property owner three tabloid-sized newsletters; helped conduct media briefings; and held a dozen community open houses.

The Result

As a result of a targeted media strategy and campaign, APCO successfully generated substantial print and broadcast media coverage, including more than seven editorials in favor of forming these assessment districts during 2000 and 2007.

The public education campaigns APCO developed resulted in a resounding 82 percent victory in both years. The second vote created the largest assessment district of its kind in California.

Services Provided

• Issue management
• Media relations

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