Special districts
Fire, water, healthcare, park, and library districts provide services residents depend on every day, often without knowing which agency provides them.
Where special districts usually are when they call
Residents don't know the district exists People know the fire engine shows up or the water runs. Fewer know who pays for it. Building awareness usually comes before any measure.
Costs have outgrown revenue Aging equipment, rising staffing costs, or new demands like wildfire risk, and a funding source that hasn't kept up.
A small team Many districts don't have a communications staff. We can do the work your team doesn't have time for.
An expiring measure Renewals need to show residents what the last measure delivered.
Districts we work with
Fire protection districts
Water and wastewater districts
Healthcare districts
Park and recreation districts
Library districts
Measures we work on
General obligation bonds
Property tax levies and levy lid lifts
Special taxes for fire and emergency medical services
Water, wastewater, and stormwater measures
Healthcare and hospital district measures
Park, recreation, and open space measures
Library measures
Benefit assessments and property owner ballots
Appropriations limit increases
District formation, consolidation, and annexation
Renewals and extensions
Any other tax or bond that needs voter approval
How we help a special district
Awareness and feasibility
We find out what voters know about the district and what they value about its services, through interviews and public opinion research from our in-house, award-winning polling team. We also look at election trends and what else is likely to be on the ballot, so the board can choose the right election and amount. See how a feasibility study works.
Measure development
We work with your staff and district counsel to build the measure: what the funding does, how long it lasts, how it’s reported, the ballot question, and presentations to the board. Decades of work with public officials and county election offices help keep every step on schedule, from the board vote to the filing deadline.
Community engagement
Fact sheets, FAQs, mailers, web pages, and presentations to homeowner associations, neighborhood groups, and community events, all written and produced in house and built for a small staff to manage. We also handle media relations and crisis communications, and we brief staff on what they can and can’t say about the measure.
Campaign
Residents and local leaders sometimes form a committee to support the measure. We can run that campaign too: fundraising, endorsements, ballot arguments for the voter guide, advertising, yard signs, door knocking, texting, debate prep, and more.
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Yes. We scale the work to your budget and staff, and you'll have one lead who handles coordination so your team can keep running the district.
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Start with the service, not the agency. Residents care about response times, clean water, and open libraries. We build community engagement around what they already see and value.
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Yes. We’ve worked with more than 250 clients in 26 states, from small towns to major metros, and ballot measures are the center of our practice. Our team is remote, with roots on the East and West Coasts.
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We’ve helped local communities raise more than $8.5 billion. On measures where we handle both the public and the private campaign, our win rate is 97.8 percent.
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Yes. Our public opinion research comes from our in-house, award-winning polling team, so the people who design your survey also help you act on the results.
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We’ll tell you. If the research says wait, we say wait, and we explain what would need to change before going to voters.
Questions special districts ask us
Looking at stable funding for your district?
Tell us about your district and what you're facing.