Will San Diego County vote on a half-cent sales tax this year? What to know

San Diego voters will be able to decide in the Nov. 3 election if they will tax themselves more and send those tax dollars to county healthcare and public safety initiatives as well as fixes to the Tijuana River pollution crisis if proponents have secured enough signatures.

If passed with a majority of votes, the San Diego County Health and Safety Act would impose a permanent half-cent sales tax to garner local funds to make up for federal and state budget shortfalls. Currently, shoppers in the county pay between 7.75% and 8.75% in sales tax depending on where they are making the purchase. Sales tax is 7.75% in the city of San Diego. 

The initiative is endorsed by CalFire Local 2881, Children First San Diego, the San Diego County Hospital Association and the Tijuana River Coalition, among others.

As proponents submitted signatures Monday for voting officials to verify, inewsource asked Courtney Baltiyskyy, director of Children First San Diego, about the act and about how it would help address the sewage crisis that has plagued communities near the Tijuana River for decades.

Q: What is the San Diego County Health and Safety Act and what does it do?

A: “The San Diego County Health and Safety Act is a countywide citizens’ initiative. In a citizens’ initiative, you have to have a threshold of signatures to qualify for the ballot. The San Diego County Health and Safety Act is turning in over 167,000 signatures today.

“Those are all San Diego voters who said yes to having a choice to vote on healthcare, food security, childcare and ending the pollution crisis in the Tijuana River Valley.”

Q: There are a lot of different issues this act is addressing. What are they?

A: “They all come down to one key issue, and that is San Diego County’s health and safety. Some of those are historic issues of health and safety, including the pollution crisis in the Tijuana River and access to safe child care.

“And now we have shorter term threats to healthcare, food security, public safety, all of those things will be addressed, and all of them come down to health and safety of San Diegans.”

Q: How much money could this potentially raise?

A: “We are looking at projections of about $360 million annually. There is a very specific expenditure plan for that funding. A citizens’ initiative allows for specificity, transparency and accountability for how these funds will be spent.

“It’ll be really overseen by a community committee, and those folks will have lived experience in these issues and make sure that there are annual audits of the funding and that funding is being spent in accordance with how voters pass this.”

Q: How would the act benefit the Tijuana River Valley?

A: “A big key issue in San Diego’s health and safety is the pollution crisis in the Tijuana River Valley. In accordance with some of the plans that have come out from the County of San Diego, as well as reports tied to the issue, we have short-term and longer-term projects. Some of the shorter term projects include stopping the aerosolized pollution at Saturn Boulevard, otherwise known as the ‘hot spot.’

“We have intermediary projects, including maintenance and fixes to the IBWC [International Boundary and Water Commission] treatment plant, and a longer term project, which is ultimately diverting the Tijuana River, which would sustainably end the pollution crisis, and make sure all water is treated.”

Q: Is there a specific percentage of the funds that would go toward the pollution crisis?

A: “The expenditure plan is public, so we can say that as high as 22% of this will go to the Tijuana River Valley. That equates to about $76 million annually. 

“Because this is a citizens’ initiative, the funding gets passed by the voters in accordance with that expenditure plan. The community oversight committee will make recommendations for that funding in line with the plan, and that will annually be approved by the Board of Supervisors through the budget process.”

Q: Why do you believe taxpayers in San Diego should be contributing to these issues?

A: “In San Diego, we’ve waited for decades for our federal and state governments to support long-term health and safety issues, including the Tijuana River and access to childcare. We’re done waiting. This is a way for us to have accountable local funding to sustainably address these issues and have San Diego be a place where everybody is healthy and thriving.”

Editor’s note: The headline and story have been updated to indicate that voting officials must verify the signatures for the citizens’ initiative to make the ballot.