Narrowly Defeated in June : County Will Try Again on Gann Waiver

San Diego County supervisors voted unanimously Wednesday to resurrect a defeated ballot initiative that would enable the county to spend tax dollars it has already collected.

Voters narrowly rejected the four-year waiver of a spending limit in June, but county supervisors charged that the measure was misinterpreted by voters as a tax increase.

The so-called Gann waiver, which will go on the November ballot, would free up $2.2 million now in the county’s coffers and allow the county to use millions more it stands to get from the state for trial courts and other projects and services.

The statewide Gann initiative, approved in a 1979 referendum, restricts government spending with a formula based on 1979 budgets and adjusted annually for population growth and inflation.

Lack of Public Attention

Bruce Boland, deputy chief administrative officer for the county, said June’s version of the waiver initiative suffered from a lack of public attention. This time, the county is marshaling forces ranging from the United Way to the Deputy Sheriffs’ Assn. to actively support the November measure.

“The formula cannot reflect the spending needs of rapidly growing places like San Diego County,” Boland said. The waiver “is a complex issue, and in the minds of some voters it appears to be a tax increase. Nothing could be further from the truth.”

County Filed Lawsuit

Pending state legislation would provide $34 million yearly for the county’s beleaguered court system, and the county has filed a lawsuit seeking $72 million in state property tax revenues, arguing that on a per capita basis San Diego County gets less general fund money than all but one other of California’s 58 counties.

Without the waiver, the county couldn’t use money from the suit, the legislation, other state programs or increasing local revenues.

The move to place the waiver back on the ballot drew immediate fire from United Taxpayers of San Diego President Jack Sanders.

“We’re not in an emergency situation here. The budget is already scheduled to go up 8%, so there’s no lack of money,” Sanders said.

“It wouldn’t be necessary at all if we didn’t have the level of waste in county spending that we’ve been seeing. There’s lots and lots of fat to be cut,” he said.

Sanders also said that the Board of Supervisors is ignoring the wishes of the voters, who rejected the proposal, 51% to 49%, in June.

While agreeing that the waiver would not constitute a new tax, Sanders said the county “will find ways to get more money” once it is allowed to use it.

After the four years of the waiver are up, “you can bet that they’ll be addicted to it,” he said. “It’s virtually impossible to cut funding after you’ve started.”

Would Not Rule Out Renewal

Assistant Chief Administrative Officer David Janssen would not rule out a renewal of the waiver after four years. But he said there could be a statewide revision of the Gann initiative before then.

“If this isn’t passed,” he said, “the law requires us to return that $2.2 million to the taxpayers in two years,” and the gap between available revenue and the spending limit will continue to grow.

“Our goal in revising the ballot language is to make clear that what is at stake is additional state revenue which would be spent elsewhere (in other counties). We ought to be able to take advantage of any state revenue we have.”

Sammy Moon, United Way vice president for the county, said the organization will be spearheading the effort by dozens of groups to get public support for the measure. “In the county agencies we deal with we would be facing a loss in funding of $3.3 million to $4 million,” he said. “What happens is that San Diego winds up paying other peoples’ taxes.”

“If the county is not able to allocate its dollars because of the Gann spending limit, who’s going to serve the people? The need is not going to decrease. The United Way is not going to be able to fill the gap,” Moon said.