SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — San Diego voters rejected Measure A, a proposed tax on vacant homes, continuing a pattern of failed tax-based ballot measures in the city in recent years.
Measure A would have required homeowners to pay $8,000 if their property sat unoccupied for more than half the year. If the home remained empty the following year, that fee would have jumped to $10,000. The revenue was intended to help address the city's budget shortfall and encourage more homes to be rented out.
The measure's failure is not an isolated event. A year and a half ago, San Diego residents also voted down Measure E, a proposed 1-cent sales tax increase that was projected to raise $400 million a year.
Mayor Todd Gloria said the repeated rejection of tax measures has real consequences for the city's finances.
"Our tourist tax is relatively low compared to other cities like Anaheim or San Francisco or LA. Again, that can be a good thing when we're trying to compete to bring business here. But it also means we have less revenue coming in the door," Gloria said.
When Measure E failed, the city warned it would need to cut departments, reduce staff, and eliminate some services. The city was ultimately able to shift funds and avoid the worst of those cuts — but the budget pressure has returned. Gloria's latest budget proposal includes cuts and reductions across city operations.
The back-to-back failures raise a difficult question for city leaders: if voters won't approve tax increases and residents oppose budget cuts, what comes next?
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