Countywide : Measure R Spending Would be Monitored

The County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved a Citizens Oversight Committee to monitor spending of Measure R funds should the half-cent sales tax hike receive voter approval later this month.

Supervisors also agreed to select oversight committee members the same way they did for a similar panel that monitors Measure M sales tax proceeds for transportation projects. The oversight committee, if needed, will consist of five members and five alternates, with one of each chosen from the five supervisorial districts.

Measure R, which goes before voters in a special election June 27, would raise an estimated $130 million a year for the next 10 years to help the county with its bankruptcy. If the measure passes, the committee would be established within 75 days.

Committee members would make at least one report annually to the supervisors on how and where the Measure R revenues are being spent. They could also suggest repealing the tax if it were no longer needed by “putting it back on the ballot,” said Sheriff Brad Gates, who is helping coordinate the committee selection process.

The Citizens Oversight Selection Panel for the Grand Jurors Assn. of Orange County would interview all applicants in early August and select 25 finalists.

A lottery would be held Aug. 29 to select the 10 members, a process supervisors said they believe would be the most fair.

Elected officials from the local, county, state or federal levels, or their spouses, would not be allowed to serve on the committee.

Gates said he expects about 200 people would apply for the committee seats, Gates said.