Kyle Krahel is ready to see the county government do more for its residents, and he’s hoping to lead the charge as the new District 5 county supervisor.
But, he said at Voice of San Diego’s Politifest North County event on Friday, it will be difficult for the county to provide essential services to the region’s most vulnerable if a proposed countywide half-cent sales tax increase, Measure B, doesn’t pass in November.
“People are going to die on our streets,” Krahel said.
Krahel is the Democrat in the race for the District 5 Board of Supervisors seat. He is a political newcomer and former chair of the county Democratic party. He’s running against Republican Rebecca Jones, the current mayor of San Marcos.
Jones couldn’t attend the District 5 Politifest debate because of a family commitment.
If Krahel wins, it will give Democrats their first-ever 4-1 supermajority on the Board of Supervisors, allowing them to pass major budget decisions without Republican votes.
During our conversation on Friday, the county’s budget deficit and Measure B came up several times as we discussed behavioral health services, homelessness, housing and more.
When it came to Measure B, Krahel didn’t beat around the bush.
“If it doesn’t pass by a majority, we’re going to have to do cuts that are going to leave people going to the emergency room for basic care … or dying on our streets because they can’t get any kind of care,” he said.
He explained that the federal government has been rolling out massive cuts to food benefits, health care coverage and many safety-net programs as part of the Trump administration’s “Big Beautiful Bill.” Those cuts will severely impact everyday citizens, he said.
“I’m going to do everything I possibly can to make sure we’re not putting people’s lives at risk but at a certain point of the federal level cutting hundreds of million dollars, there’s going to be cuts to the citizens, and people are going to die on our streets,” Krahel said.
He added that he would support adopting a sunset clause, or expiration date, for Measure B. It currently doesn’t include one, meaning the tax increase will be collected indefinitely if it passes. He also said he would implement an oversight system to monitor spending. The measure already includes the formation of an oversight committee.
It’s unclear what steps Krahel may push to add more oversight or a sunset clause for the tax.