Berkeley city council allocates soda tax funds

Just over a year since the voters of Berkeley passed Measure D, which levies a 1 cent per ounce tax on the distribution of sugary drinks, the Berkeley City Council approved $1.75 million for an RFP process that will commence in February with investments slated to reach community groups and schools starting in July 2016.

Per California tax law-- the amount of available funding must be decoupled from the tax revenues  and the $2 million request had to be made from the general fund.  After reviewing the revenue projections, and considering that the the Berkeley City Council had already forward funded $500,000, they approved $1.5 million for the upcoming RFP process. 

Some highlights from last night's Council action:

• $1.5 Million was made available from Berkeley's General Fund to support the recommendations by the Panel of Experts to reduce sugary drink consumption and address the health disparities that result from consuming sugary drinks.
• Up to 42.5% will go to school-based prevention efforts
• At least 42.5% will go to community based efforts
• 15% will be reserved for administration and evaluation of the grant process. 
• An additional $250,000 will be released in mini-grants and other marketing/branding initiatives.  (An additional $250k had been forwarded to BUSD last May to supplement the district's cooking and gardening program)