Ballot Measure Would Generate over $480 Million and Impose
Accountability on City Politicians to Fully Fund Street Repairs and Maintenance
San Diego Mayoral Candidate Carl DeMaio unveiled his “REPAIR” Initiative to generate over $480 million to fix San Diego’s crumbling roads without a tax increase – and hold city leaders accountable for improving how road repair work is done. The tax-free funding plan in DeMaio’s “Repave and Eliminate Potholes through Accountability for Infrastructure Repairs” (REPAIR) Initiative would be put up to a public vote – and in doing so would impose strict accountability on city politicians to make properly funding road repairs a top priority in the budget for the next five years.
“San Diegans are sick and tired of pothole-filled roads, and with the Road ‘REPAIR’ Initiative we can force city politicians to make funding road repairs a priority again,” DeMaio said as he unveiled the proposal.
“City Hall politicians do not like ballot measures because it forces them to be held accountable for actually getting things done,” DeMaio noted. “As we showed with Proposition B – my Comprehensive Pension Reform Initiative, a ballot measure is sometimes the only way taxpayers can be sure that problems are fixed,” DeMaio said.
DeMaio will present his ballot initiative to the City Council at the June 13 hearing of the Rules Committee, where ballot measures for the November 2012 election will be considered. Even if the City Council does not act on the REPAIR Initiative for November, DeMaio committed to follow the Initiative in each budget he presents as Mayor – and if necessary to consider a signature drive once in office.
DeMaio has built a reputation on his success in using ballot measures to drive reform at City Hall – including the Managed Competition Initiative to open city services up to competitive bidding or the current Prop B on Pension Reform which DeMaio authored.
Among the reforms included in DeMaio’s Road “REPAIR” Proposal:
- Funding Lock Box: A Charter Amendment to create a five year “Road Repair Lock Box” where any increased revenues above the city’s FY 2013 budget would be placed for the purpose of repairing and maintaining city streets. In the fall, DeMaio released a financial forecast showing more than $480 million could be generated through this reform alone without raising taxes.
- Surplus Property Reform: Establish a Citizens Infrastructure Review Committee to audit existing city assets to determine which are not utilized and could be disposed of in the next five years to help fund road repairs.
- Accountability Reforms: Authorize the Mayor to outsource any function related to the repair or maintenance of roads through fixed price, performance-based contracts. The citizens review committee would audit effectiveness of city repair programs.
For more information on the DeMaio’s Road “REPAIR” Initiative visit www.CarlDeMaio.com.