The Seal Beach City Council on Monday, Dec. 9, formally declared the results of the November 2024 election. The vote was unanimous. The council members voted prior to the swearing in of two new members.
Members of the public applauded and a few cheered when then-Mayor Schelly Sustarsic announced this agenda item. After the roll call vote, the audience applauded again.
Council race
“The City of Seal Beach City General Municipal Election was held on November 5, 2024, and the canvass and certification of election by the County of Orange was completed on December 3, 2024,” wrote City Clerk Gloria Harper in her staff report to the council.
Ben Wong, who ran unopposed in District Two, received 2,432 votes.
Patty Senecal, who ran unopposed in District Three, received 2,402.
Outgoing State Sen. Janet Nguyen, recently elected as the District One member of the Orange County Board of Supervisors, administered the oath of office to Wong and Senecal near the end of the Dec. 9 council meeting. The meeting began shortly after 7 p.m. and ended around 9:44 p.m.
Sales tax measure
Voters approved Measure GG, the half-cent sales tax in November.
Yes received 10,689 votes; that was 68.25% of the vote, according to Harper’s report.
No received 4,973 votes; that was 31.75% of the vote, according to Harper’s report.
Measure GG was a general sales tax. In California, generally speaking, a general sales tax requires a simple majority of votes to pass. A special tax for a specific purpose requires a two-thirds majority of votes to pass.
“Staff will transmit a copy of the adopted ordinance to the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration (‘Department’) for implementation. In addition, a separate agenda item includes resolutions and agreements with the Department for administration of the new sales tax,” Harper wrote.
The sales tax is scheduled to go into effect in April.
“The election costs for the November 5, 2024, Consolidated Election for the City of Seal Beach Council Districts Two and Four, as well as Measure GG total approximately $60,000 and is included in the FY 2024-25 Budget,” Harper wrote in the staff report.
Seal Beach voters approved a similar 1-cent sales tax, Measure BB, in 2018.
