REPEALING TAXPAYER RIGHTS IS THE WRONG SOLUTION FOR SAN DIEGO’S FISCAL WOES

This Thursday evening, Voice of San Diego reporter Liam Dillon posted an article on San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders’ plan to study possibly two new back-door taxes on city residents – a stormwater fee and a trash collection fee – as part of a $179.1 million budget-balancing deal with the City Council. As Dillon notes, these two fees have been on the City Hall dais for years, but have never been acted upon, as California state voters approved taxpayer protections  (Proposition 218) which requires a public vote before municipalities can begin collecting new local surcharges. It is critical that San Diego city taxpayers do not become complacent on this study initiative, as history suggests its conclusion may already have been written.

Earlier this year, San Diego Union-Tribune editorial writer Chris Reed identified the Mayor’s Office “proposed 2009 legislative program” as including support for a constitutional amendment to exempt storm water fees from Proposition 218, which would enable elected officials to bypass a public vote. Advocating for the repeal for taxpayer rights, in any circumstance, is a deplorable decision, particularly in these difficult economic times. But if the Mayor’s Office felt the need for a “sustainable revenue source”  was urgent enough to put this strategy on the table eleven months ago, how far fetched is it that his storm water fee study wouldn’t come to the same (or similar) conclusion?

Proponents of new back-door taxes on San Diegan families should take notice that the public doesn’t buy arguments that new government revenues are the cure for budget woes at City Hall. A SurveyUSA poll of 500 San Diego city adults taken in November 2008 revealed that a whopping 88% of residents believe that fiscal mismanagement (not the lack of greater revenues) is to blame for local budget deficits, including 85% of Democrats and 93% of Independents.

Any municipal study of a new San Diego trash collection fee implies that a key local taxpayer safeguard would be stripped – the People’s Ordinance, one of our city’s oldest provisions for government accountability. However, a SurveyUSA poll taken April 2009 found that San Diegans are vehemently opposed to paying an additional trash tax on top of the taxes used to pay for public trash collection today. Among the findings:

• 70% of San Diego city residents are unwilling to pay for trash collection, including 69% of Democrats and 70% of Independents;
• 61% are opposed to paying for trash as a way to generate revenue for City Hall;
• 59% are opposed to paying for trash, even if public employees take a cut in benefits;
• 74% of San Diegans want trash collection to be paid out of the taxes that are already collected.

Vigilance on this issue is critical. If taxpayer rights are successfully repealed in the City of San Diego, it will establish an erroneous precedent that other municipalities will surely exploit in our state. With our local financial problems far from over, San Diego City Hall must hear loud and clear today: budget balancing deals must not come at the expense of the rights of taxpayers. Not now, and not ever.