Signs Point to Need for a Yes Vote on R : Other Remedies Are Not Enough to Solve Fiscal Crisis

One of life’s annual milestones arrived quietly last week during the final days of the debate over Measure R, the half-cent sales tax measure for bankruptcy recovery that goes before the voters on Tuesday. It was the advent of summer, the season with which much of the nation associates Orange County as a place fabled for its sun and surf.

But voters must not be lured by the pleasures of summer or the distractions of everyday life to divert them from the urgent business at hand.

Turning out to the polls to pull the county back from a fiscal disaster recent enough to have left few early signs is an important civic duty ahead this week.

Bankruptcy has not changed the kind of timeless vista that has been evident these early summer days on Balboa Island, as cars line up as always to take the ferry ride across a sunlit harbor festooned with sails. However, the week just passed did bring ominous signs of workaday reality. It is the kind of information from the bankruptcy front that should motivate residents toward an appreciation of the complications ahead should the county fail to secure the needed revenue stream to light the way out of the fiscal hole.

Much has been made by those seeking to divert attention from the need for the tax of the virtues of selling assets and privatizing. Those things can help, but when the county tried to auction 19 properties Tuesday, it fell short of its goal of generating sales of $30 million by more than two-thirds. Supervisor William G. Steiner remarked, “I think this shows that some solutions appear simple on the surface but are more difficult to pull off.”

Likewise, on the day before some anti-sales tax forces were to call for the county to sell John Wayne Airport as an alternative, a county task force released a report that concluded bluntly that the sale of the facility would not help the county get out of bankruptcy.

These are signposts that ought to jar residents into an appreciation of the importance of turning out and voting Yes on Measure R. The lawn may wait a week, but this larger problem will not simply take care of itself.

Unfortunately, as friend and foe of Measure R alike have recognized, the lack of dramatically visible symbols of deteriorating quality of life just months into bankruptcy has made it difficult to grasp the seriousness of the situation.

Already, there’s been considerable belt-tightening to cope with the losses resulting from the collapse of the county’s investment pool. To help close the $1.69-billion budget gap, nearly 800 county employees have been laid off, and $200 million has been cut from the general fund. Two hundred government agencies have lost access to millions.

Now, however, there are serious concerns about the nearly $1 billion coming due this summer. Many creditors have stayed in line, but without Measure R, the prospect of the entire recovery plan coming unraveled is real. And there is the long-term effect to consider on public health, prevention of abuse to children, and life in the schools.

The future of the county summons residents to make a trip to the polls on Tuesday. Orange County voters owe it to themselves and their children to secure a brighter future.