{"id":435211,"date":"2026-08-17T12:30:49","date_gmt":"2026-08-17T12:30:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/435211\/"},"modified":"2026-08-17T12:30:49","modified_gmt":"2026-08-17T12:30:49","slug":"county-taxpayers-association-endorses-santee-sales-tax-measure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/435211\/","title":{"rendered":"County Taxpayers Association endorses Santee sales tax measure"},"content":{"rendered":"

The San Diego County Taxpayers Association endorsed Santee\u2019s temporary one-cent sales tax measure<\/a> on the November ballot, saying the new proposal is \u201cmaterially different\u201d from the 2024 one the group had opposed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe City of Santee has demonstrated strong, long-term fiscal management with a sales-tax rate left unchanged since 1980, and the measure is proposed in response to a well-documented unfunded infrastructure backlog,\u201d the group wrote in their letter of support.<\/p>\n

City leaders voted in July<\/a> to place the one-cent general sales tax on the ballot to fund a variety of city services and infrastructure projects, including street and sidewalk repairs; maintenance of parks and public facilities; replacing aging infrastructure; supporting fire protection, paramedic and emergency response, including new and remodeled fire stations.<\/p>\n

The measure would increase sales tax in Santee from 7.75% to 8.75% for the next 10 years, making it the highest taxed city in East County.<\/p>\n

Officials estimate the tax hike would generate about $140 million in revenue over the 10 years, and spending would be independently audited and overseen by a citizen-led committee.<\/p>\n

Slowed revenue, long-term budget concerns and about $327.7 million in unfunded infrastructure projects have left the city with little-to-no options besides raising taxes, leaders said.<\/p>\n

This marks the second sales tax measure Santee voters have considered in the last two years. In 2024, Santee residents shot down Measure S<\/a>, a citizen-led initiative that would have enacted a half-cent sales tax for 15 years to specifically fund fire protection and emergency services.<\/p>\n

The Taxpayers Association opposed Measure S, primarily because the group said the measure engaged in \u201cballot box budgeting,\u201d a term that essentially means letting voters make key decisions about government spending instead of elected officials.<\/p>\n

At the time, the group also noted the proposal would only partially fund the city\u2019s fire protection needs, arguing that elected officials should be the ones to propose measures that finance public services.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe current proposal is materially different and responds to several of the 2024 concerns,\u201d the association said. \u201cIt is a City Council-referred measure proposed by the City\u2019s elected leadership; it is a broader measure addressing pavement, storm drains, bridges, and parks in addition to fire facilities, rather than a fire-only levy; and it is accompanied by a published 10-Year Draft Spending Plan and a Council-appointed Citizens\u2019 Oversight Committee.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, the group noted the measure carries a \u201cdistinct structural issue\u201d: the absence of a legal promise that the revenue will be spent as it is being pitched to voters.<\/p>\n

The association recommended the city provide stronger assurance that the revenue will be dedicated to the stated priorities, for example, by establishing a resolution of intent or a binding maintenance-of-effort clause.<\/p>\n

City leaders are optimistic that voters will be more supportive of a measure<\/a> that isn\u2019t solely focused on paying for emergency services, but they have expressed their own reservations about proposing a tax hike.<\/p>\n

\u201cI never thought in my day that this city would ever be looking at a tax measure,\u201d Mayor John Minto said. \u201cThe reality is that the prices keep going up, and we\u2019re still getting more unfunded (state) mandates. We have to do something.\u201d<\/p>\n

That leaves the decision in the hands of voters, who themselves are facing similar challenges due to inflation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The San Diego County Taxpayers Association endorsed Santee\u2019s temporary one-cent sales tax measure on the November ballot, saying…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":435212,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[7,3053,181,23,100,74,84,76,75,4891,1696],"class_list":["post-435211","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-california","tag-east-county","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-county","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news","tag-santee","tag-top-stories-sdut"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435211","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=435211"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435211\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/435212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=435211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=435211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=435211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}