Early returns from Tuesday's election showed 'yes' votes holding a narrow lead for Measure B, a San Diego County proposal that would impose a half-cent sales tax increase to fund healthcare, food security and other family services, public safety and fixes to the Tijuana River sewage crisis.
The measure would generate about $400 million each year, according to proponents. Most of the funding, 60 percent, would go toward healthcare and other family services, including stipends for licensed childcare providers, vouchers for families and healthcare services for uninsured low-income residents. Another 22.5 percent is earmarked for infrastructure projects to stop sewage flows in the Tijuana River, while 17.5 percent would support public safety, wildfire prevention and emergency response, including improvements to the regional emergency 911 communications system.
Supporters said the measure would create dependable local funding at a time when federal support is less reliable. Counties across California, including San Diego, are turning to local resources to fill gaps in healthcare, food assistance and childcare created by federal funding cuts. County board chairperson Terra Lawson-Remer has said the county budget faces an estimated $300 million annual loss in federal funding for programs like Medicaid, Medi-Cal and CalFresh.
"We have almost a million people that are signed up for Medi-Cal, that number is dwindling. And so we want to make sure people are taken care of," said San Diego County Supervisor Monica Montgomery Steppe. She added that the Tijuana River Valley crisis has lasted a long time for communities "up and down the coast."
At the border, even as Mexico and the United States work to stop sewage spills, the county is exploring an additional line of defense: building and maintaining wastewater treatment infrastructure to treat flows into the Tijuana River. The year-round pollution becomes airborne and has made some people sick, and ongoing funding would be needed, an expense the board majority believes is worth exploring.
Opponents worry the measure has no expiration clause and could be amended if Congress later replenishes funding for services. "The tax exists in perpetuity. And so once it's voted in, it's there, it's permanent," said Mark Kersey, president of the San Diego County Taxpayers Association. He said voters would have no chance to weigh in again through what he called a sunset clause, "whether it's ten or twenty or thirty years down the line."
Measure B is not the only tax question on the ballot in the county. In Oceanside, Measure S would impose a half-cent sales tax projected to generate about $20 million annually for repairing streets, beaches and aging public infrastructure, modernizing emergency facilities and making traffic improvements, with a sunset after 10 years. Santee's Measure Y, a 1 percent general sales tax raising about $14 million a year for street fixes, fire station upgrades, flood risk reduction and park and sidewalk maintenance, would also expire after 10 years. In Solana Beach, Measure C would raise the local hotel and lodging tax from 13 to 14 percent, a tax paid only by visitors that a city analysis estimates would generate $250,000 per year for public services and facilities.
Passage of multiple tax hikes in the same election may be complicated, since voters can be reluctant to approve several increases at once. That was the case in November 2024, when voters rejected both the countywide Measure G and San Diego city's Measure E.
