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The voters sent a clear message in the recent election regarding Proposition 218 that they do not want their taxes raised for what would have been, a very expensive new county bureaucracy.
This election told the county Board of Supervisors that government must become more accountable to do things in the most efficient way. The voters sent a message that it is no longer acceptable for government to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on out-of-town public relations firms to get new taxes passed and fund a new bur-eaucracy, when using or supplementing existing staff and resources is a more cost-efficient option.
It would be a great mistake to misinterpret the election results to mean that residents do not value their health or that of their families. The health of county residents is a most basic need and consequently, voters expect that it will be a top priority in the county’s budget.
But voters and their families also expect their government to do what they themselves must do and that is to prioritize and live within their means. Raising yet another tax rather than prioritizing within existing resources is simply not acceptable to people who are already struggling to pay their bills, have watched much of their hard-earned retirement savings evaporate, and may be afraid of losing their jobs.
Voters are telling the Board of Supervisors to return to the basic task for which they were elected: to prioritize the needs of the community and allocate wisely within existing resources.