It’s not too late to change Proposition D, argue the sales tax/financial reform ballot measure’s backers.
Proponents of Prop. D are now touting a new plan devised by business leaders that they say will eliminate the city’s on-going budget deficits as part of the proposition’s package of reforms.
Highlights of the plan include:
• Guaranteeing that the proposed reforms save $73 million annually.
• Allowing no more than $20 million a year in new tax revenue to go toward restoring services like library hours and fire engine closures.
• Forcing 50 percent of any future budget surpluses to go toward reducing city debt or improving reserves. The rest would go toward city roads and other infrastructure requirements, or one-time expenditures.
The emergence of the plan, which will be announced at a 10 a.m. press conference, amounts to a dramatic admission by proponents that the ballot measure by itself fails to solve the city’s financial problems. Vince Mudd, a business confidant of Mayor Jerry Sanders, led a task force that developed the plan. News of the proposal first emerged last Thursday when the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce postponed its endorsement over the ballot measure to see if stricter financial reforms would be implemented.
Here’s a link to the proposal. More to come on this today.
Please contact Liam Dillon directly at liam.dillon@voiceofsandiego.org or 619.550.5663 and follow him on Twitter: twitter.com/dillonliam.