Months after San Diego’s aging stormwater system led to catastrophic floods, city leaders said a proposed parcel tax to fund infrastructure upgrades won’t appear on the November ballot after all.
City Council President Sean Elo-Rivera, who had pushed for the tax measure, pointed to the difficulty the measure would have garnering the two-thirds support needed to pass.
Supporters had hoped that the statewide ballot initiative could allow the parcel tax to pass with the support of only 55 percent of voters.
Proposition 5 aims to make it easier to pass local infrastructure bond measures. But an amendment late last month cut local tax increases out of the measure, meaning the stormwater tax would have a harder time passing.
Elo-Rivera called the two-thirds voter approval an “undemocratic” impediment to San Diego making critical improvements.
“Revenue specifically dedicated for our stormwater system is the best way to address longstanding needs and make San Diego a cleaner, healthier and safer city,” he said. “Unfortunately, the rules we thought we would be playing by were changed, and our coalition decided the most responsible thing to do is to pause, continue growing our coalition, and create a plan for securing the dedicated revenue needed to provide San Diegans with clean and safe neighborhoods, beaches and bays.”
Elo-Rivera had proposed the tax hike to help eliminate a $1.6 billion backlog of flood prevention projects, which include clearing clogged storm drains and channels.
The measure would have raised an estimated $130 million a year for stormwater projects, using a city-only parcel tax on properties based on their square footage that is developed or paved. The median monthly cost would have been $18.67 for single-family properties and $145.44 for other properties.
However, critics complained that the proposed tax rate would be nearly triple what Los Angeles County charges under a similar measure.
With other competing tax hikes on local ballots, recent polling for The San Diego Union-Tribune suggested it could have a hard time clearing even a 55 percent approval threshold.
Voters appeared to be nearly evenly split, with 40 percent in support of the measure, 39 percent opposed and 21 percent undecided, according to the poll conducted last week by SurveyUSA for the Union-Tribune and 10News.
Although community advocates had praised the measure, they still supported the decision to withhold it from the ballot.
Phillip Musegaas, executive director of San Diego Coastkeeper, said the nonprofit agrees that the late legislative changes were too big a hurdle to overcome. “Withholding our measure from this year’s ballot is the responsible thing to do,” he said.
Even leaders of other community groups like the Urban Collaborative Project that have been on the ground helping thousands of flood victims displaced from their homes understood the decision.
But Barry Pollard, CEO of the collaborative, says the delay will only reinvigorate the community’s advocacy to ensure the stormwater issues are addressed.
“We’ve seen the consequences of disinvestment in the devastating historic floods this year, and we must do everything we can to triple down on solutions to protect community health, safety and clean water — particularly in underserved communities,” said Nicole Capretz, founder and CEO of Climate Action Campaign.
The city’s Rules Committee is scheduled to discuss the matter at its next meeting Wednesday.
Elo-Rivera’s office said it’s not yet clear when the measure may be revived. But supporters of such measures often prefer to put them on the ballot in presidential election years, when turnout tends to be higher.
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