SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — San Diego County voters will decide this November on Measure B — also known as the San Diego County Health and Safety Act — a proposed half-cent increase to the county's sales tax.
If approved, 60% of the funds would go toward health care, childcare and nutrition services. Roughly 17% would be directed to public safety services, including wildfire prevention. A little over 22% would be dedicated to addressing the Tijuana River sewage crisis, a problem that has plagued the South Bay for decades.
The measure is estimated to generate between $400 million and $450 million annually. It carries no end date but would require a citizen oversight committee to audit how the funds are spent.
Measure B is supported by county firefighters, health care unions and childcare organizations, who argue the money is needed due to uncertainty with federal and state funding.
Heidi de la Cruz, a supporter who lives in Ocean Beach, doesn't mind the tax hike.
"I mean at this point, what other options do we have?" de la Cruz said.
"I have no problem for my tax, the taxes that I pay to go towards clean water and supporting families and firefighters in our county." de la Cruz said.
Not everyone supports the measure. Critics say they don't want another tax increase, with some arguing the sewage crisis should be a U.S. and Mexico government problem to solve.
Marvel Harrison, who lives at a waterfront property in Imperial Beach, is undecided on the issue. A vocal advocate for fixing the sewage crisis, she isn't sure those affected by it should have to fund the solution.
"I don't like that it doesn't have an endpoint to it." Harrison said.
"I think that it's a little strange that the people who are being poisoned are then the ones who are going to be penalized and we have the additional tax." Harrison said.
Harrison isn't sure Measure B is the answer to solving the sewage contamination.
"We need a state of emergency by whoever becomes governor in this state because our current governor has been spineless and has not done, anything about it" Harrison said.
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