Do you want to pay more in taxes? I don’t think so. Yet, one of my colleagues is looking at adding a tax increase to the ballot.
This is happening at a time when San Diego is already one of the most expensive places to live, and people are being forced out due to rising costs.
The reality is that the County of San Diego expects a $138.5 million budget shortfall in the upcoming fiscal year, and it is expected to grow to $321.8 million in five years. Much of that is due to a bloated bureaucracy and new programs that haven’t helped most San Diegans.
Next meeting, my colleague is proposing to hire a consultant for $400,000 to tell us whether we should pay more taxes... I can tell you, for free, we don’t. We don’t need a $400,000 consultant to tell us that San Diegans don’t want to pay additional taxes. The cost of living is already too high, and we do not have a revenue problem—we have a spending problem.
In fact, the upcoming budget estimates that County will already receive more than $80 million in increased revenue through property taxes next year.
Instead of hiring a consultant or conducting another study, we need to tighten our belt and manage spending in-house. We already have sustainable funding sources, such as property tax and sales tax. The real issue is that the County workforce increased by 2,500 new positions over the last few years and created new departments that we simply cannot afford.
While this is just in its infancy, I want to let you know that I am going to stay on this and fight to make sure our county doesn’t become even more expensive. Government should get its house in order, not put the burden on taxpayers to fork over more of their hard-earned money. I trust our County leadership and this Board’s ability to make the necessary adjustments without additional costs to taxpayers.
We need to focus on responsible fiscal management, not more government waste.