County voters narrowly approve half-cent sales tax hike and charter rewrite expanding supervisor powers

San Diego County voters have narrowly approved a half-cent sales tax increase and a sweeping rewrite of the county charter, handing the Democrat-led Board of Supervisors hundreds of millions in new annual revenue and extended term limits.

Measure A, the charter rewrite, led with 52.1% of the vote as of Monday. Measure B, the half-cent sales tax surcharge, held 52.0%. Roughly 390,000 ballots — 31% of the total vote — remain to be counted, but backers declared victory late last week as the margins widened.

Both measures needed only a simple majority to pass.

Measure B is expected to raise between $400 million and $450 million per year. The new surcharge takes effect April 1 and will push the countywide sales tax rate higher on all non-essential purchases.

Where the money goes

The largest single allocation — up to $171 million annually — goes to social services programs including Medi-Cal and CalFresh. More than $100 million per year is earmarked for the Tijuana River sewage crisis, with the county pledging to issue up to $1 billion in bonds backed by the new revenue to build a treatment plant.

Additional funds target childcare, wildfire prevention, emergency response, and public safety.

The measure requires an 11-member citizen oversight committee, but that panel will have no formal decision-making power over how the money is spent. It will release fiscal and compliance audits.

Supervisors gain three-term limit, new powers

Measure A rewrites the county charter to allow supervisors to serve three terms instead of the current limit of two. That means Board Chair Terra Lawson-Remer, first elected in 2020 and set to be termed out in 2028, could now serve until 2032.

Lawson-Remer, who authored the charter rewrite and backed the tax measure, called the results "a resounding endorsement of the fact that government can make a difference."

The charter rewrite also creates an ethics commission and new offices for budgeting and program auditing under the control of supervisors, and expands the number of county positions that supervisors can confirm or remove.

The sales tax measure was placed on the ballot by a coalition of labor unions, health care advocates and nonprofit leaders, while the Board of Supervisors placed Measure A on the ballot.

Both measures faced opposition from taxpayer groups including the San Diego County Taxpayers Association, which argued the half-cent tax lacked a sunset clause, had no performance targets, and would reduce pressure on the federal government to address the Tijuana River pollution at its source.