The Round Up For Arcata Fund

Under Round Up For Arcata every Arcatan as well as visitors to our town will have the opportunity to round up their bills, fees, and any purchases they make in Arcata to the next dollar. The money would go into a special city fund to be used for specific Arcata projects such as the City Car Share Lending library, zero-emission shuttle service, affordable housing, and the funding of environmental startups incubated at HSU. It could go to a new Arcata child care center, fixing a pothole or bikelane or a police substation at Valley West. The idea is to build a flexible fund for things that in the end benefit all residents of our town by making it a better place to live. Think of Round Up for Arcata as your rich uncle. You don't expect him to give you regular handouts but when you need him, he is there.

Here is how it would work. Every business and city department will be expected to ask their customers if they want to "Round Up for Arcata." For example, if you have a $23.47 bill, the merchant or clerk will ask you if you would like to "Round Up For Arcata" and pay $24.00. All the money collected would be put into a special fund. The farmer's markets and artisans will be asked to provide a fund jar that will be collected at the end of the event. Even contractors to the city will be asked to round down their bills, but pay the difference into the Round Up fund; and it would be the same with our water bills, phone bills, garbage bills and so on.

It's voluntary but I believe most Arcatans will participate and many others will as well. On the individual level it means just pennies per purchase, but together it would add up to perhaps the biggest single revenue source for Arcata.