Countywide

The Board of Supervisors Tuesday approved a licensing tax on businesses in unincorporated areas to pay for more patrols by sheriff’s deputies.

The annual tax will be a flat $25 for each business and $5 for each full-time employee. The tax is to go into effect in March.

It will raise an estimated $500,000 to strengthen law enforcement in Valley Center, Julian, Pine Valley and the 4S Ranch, a community near Lake Hodges. The number of deputies to be hired has not been determined.

The business tax is the first such fee imposed on businesses in unincorporated areas, although most cities in San Diego County already have similar business taxes.

Faced with opposition from numerous businesses and chambers of commerce in unincorporated communities this fall, supervisors considered several amounts and variations of the business tax.

An initial proposal of a $100 flat fee for retail businesses and $150 for professionals, plus a $5 fee for each full-time employee and $2.50 for each part-time employee, would have raised more than $800,000 annually.

Supervisors said they reluctantly adopted the fee after state budget cutbacks slashed millions of dollars from the county budget. Supervisors approved the measure after briefly debating the impact of the tax on businesses and the reduced number of deputies that could be hired by approving a $25-per-business tax instead of the $100 fee.

Supervisors directed Chief Administrative Officer Norman Hickey to make recommendations in January on ways to find funding for more deputies in unincorporated areas.