Incumbents Hawthorne and Cruz are ahead in Sand City Council race.

The election results arriving at Monterey County’s smallest city show a majority voting to maintain the status quo as of Wednesday, Nov. 4. 

Sand City and its population of about 400 appears to have delivered wins to incumbent city council members Kim Cruz and Greg Hawthorne. 

Cruz, an HR professional, has so far won 65 votes, giving her the largest share at 32 percent, while Hawthorne, an artist and entrepreneur, is only one vote behind at 64 votes. They are leading by significant margins over challengers Kayhan Ghodsi and Donald Difede, who have claimed 21 and 16 percent of the vote respectively. 

The city has been divided over whether to reduce its unusually large police budget amid pressure on city finances, which were only exacerbated by the threat of Covid-19. Ghodsi and Difede entered the fray with the backing of the police union, advocating to maintain the force as it is. 

To a large extent, the city council race was a referendum on the police budget issue, but politics in Sand City are also focused on development proposals that could see the city’s population double in only a few years. 

Mayor Mary Ann Carbone, who ran for reelection unopposed has garnered 105 votes so far. 

The city's lone ballot initiative, Measure U, which would raise the city's transaction and use tax from 1 percent to 1.5 percent, similar to a sales tax, appears headed for defeat. No on U leads 68 votes to 56 votes.