San Diego ditches ballot measure to create tax for stormwater projects

SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — San Diego officials are halting an effort to place a tax measure aimed at increasing funding to close a nearly $1.6 billion shortfall for maintenance and upgrades to the city’s aging stormwater system.

In a joint statement, city council leaders and advocacy groups said the decision to ditch the measure for this year’s election was made after a proposed state constitutional amendment on how local governments raise revenue for infrastructure projects underwent “substantial changes.”

The amendment, Proposition 5 , would have lowered the vote threshold needed to pass general bonds or special tax measures dedicated to public infrastructure from two-thirds to 55% — something San Diego leaders were banking on when pursuing the stormwater tax measure.

However, state lawmakers removed special tax measures from the constitutional amendment’s language earlier this year, leaving the approval threshold for these initiatives at two-thirds for the forseeable future.

City Council President Sean Elo-Rivera, who led the push to get the stormwater ballot measure before voters in the wake of January’s devastating floods , said putting the brakes on the initiative would be prudent in light of this change despite the urgent need for the funding.

“The two-thirds voter approval threshold for infrastructure revenue is undemocratic and has stood as an impediment to San Diego making critical improvements,” Elo-Rivera explained. “Our coalition saw real hope in the proposal to change the threshold to 55% and were confident voters would strongly support the ballot measure we were advancing.”

“Unfortunately, the rules we thought we would be playing by were changed and our coalition decided the most responsible thing to do is to pause, continue growing our coalition, and create a plan for securing the dedicated revenue needed to provide San Diegans with clean and safe neighborhoods, beaches, and bays,” he continued.

A draft of the tax measure was approved unanimously by the city’s Rules Committee in June , sending it to the complete council to be heard later this month.

Described as “transformative” for the city, the initiative would have created a seven-cent parcel tax based on a property’s “impermeable surface area,” or sections of land where water cannot be absorbed.

Projections from the city’s budget analyst found the fee would generate $129.6 million per year to put towards closing the $1.6 billion funding shortfall for the backlogged projects needed to maintain and update San Diego’s stormwater system — a task city staff added would have been complete within 10 years of the tax’s implementation.

It would have been the city’s second attempt at implementing such a fee to increase investments in local stormwater infrastructure in the last few years. The first, which was a similar property tax, was axed in 2022 due to polls showing less support than the 60% threshold needed to pass.

“The city has a $1.6 billion budget deficit for stormwater infrastructure funding, which leaves communities vulnerable and unprotected,” Nicole Capretz, founder and CEO of Climate Action Campaign, said in the joint statement on Friday.

“While I support the decision to withhold our measure from this year’s ballot, we’ve seen the consequences of disinvestment in the devastating historic floods this year,” Capretz continued, “and we must do everything we can to triple down on solutions to protect community health, safety, and clean water — particularly in underserved communities.”

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