Tax Measure Would Allow Increase by Majority Vote

Nearly a year after proponents failed to persuade two-thirds of San Diego County voters to increase the sales tax to pay for new jails and courthouses, the Legislature on Thursday sent to the governor a measure that would allow the tax increase to become law by a simple majority vote.

County officials strongly supported the bill by Assemblyman Larry Stirling (R-San Diego), which gained final passage Thursday by the state Senate, 42-29.

If the governor signs the measure, county voters could be asked to decide again if they want to raise the sales tax half a penny on the dollar as early as the June, 1988, election.

Stirling’s legislation allows the county to get around the two-thirds vote requirement by creating a special Regional Justice Facility Financing Agency, which could then collect the half-cent sales tax after the approval of a simple majority. The measure applies only to San Diego County.

Stirling said Thursday that he believes the voters will approve the new tax because they passed a similar measure by a simple majority before. He cautioned, however, that it would depend on the results of a full debate in the community.

“The county staff . . . have no other answers than ‘give us more taxes and give us more government and maybe we’ll solve the problem.’ And now they’re going to have to play that out, through this bill,” Stirling said.

San Diego County Supervisor Brian Bilbray hailed the approval of Stirling’s legislation as “a necessary step toward providing adequate jail and court space.”

“The ability of the electorate to make a decision like this by a majority vote is critical to the process,” Bilbray said. “Anytime you’ve got a process where a minority can obstruct the will of the majority and, in doing that, prevent needed jail and courthouse space from being built, that’s a problem.”

The money collected through the new tax could also be used to pay off bonds the county might sell as a way to raise even more money for the jail and court projects.

A similar technique was used to permit a newly created transportation agency to place a proposed sales tax increase on the ballot this November. That increase, also half a cent on the dollar, would be used to finance extensions to the San Diego Trolley and other transportation projects.

If both proposed tax increases gain voter approval, the county sales tax would be 7 cents on the dollar.

On the Assembly floor Thursday, Assemblyman Steve Peace (D-Chula Vista) said he was “reluctantly” asking for adoption of the jail tax measure. He complained that there were “better ways” to solve the problem, such as bond issues, and predicted that voters will once again fail to support the proposed tax increase.