Penned by Dave Downey in this morning's North County Times...

SANDAG sets stage for 'quality-of-life' tax
Water cleanup, habitat, sand and buses considered for 2010 ballot measure
By Dave Downey, North County Times

BORREGO SPRINGS ---- Aiming to place a so-called quality-of-life sales tax on the county ballot in 2010, regional politicians gathered Thursday to discuss whether the measure should target ocean pollution, beach sand replenishment, open space or public transit ---- or all of the above.

After a full day of airing ideas on the topic at the San Diego Association of Governments' annual retreat in the eastern San Diego County desert town of Borrego Springs, no clear consensus emerged.

Many elected officials attending the three-day workshop, which concludes today, agreed that a new sales tax ranging from a quarter cent to a half cent on the dollar is needed, and that ideally it should address all four objectives. But some officials warned that adding buses and trains to the mix, just a few years after putting the TransNet regional transportation measure before voters, could jeopardize the entire package.

Oceanside Councilman Jack Feller told his colleagues that, in the current economic downturn, county residents may well reject any such measure no matter how it is packaged.

Association board members agreed on one thing: They have no business taking anything to voters before conducting extensive polling to test attitudes.

"We want to win, and we want to find out what will work," said Gary Gallegos, the association's executive director.

Gallegos and his staff plan to return to the board in several weeks with refined ideas for a potential 2010 ballot measure.

In the meantime, agency officials today are scheduled to turn their attention to the increasingly heated topic of global warming, in the wake of the state attorney general's warning late last year that they better take greenhouse gases into account when they plan for highways.

Colleen Windsor, association spokeswoman, said the agency paid for 91 government officials and staff members to attend the retreat at a cost to taxpayers of $45,000.

Besides concerns about public transit, Del Mar Councilwoman Crystal Crawford said she worried that sand replenishment's presence in a sales tax package could trigger its defeat, too.

"I remember how hard it was to pass TransNet," Crawford said.

She was referring to the November 2004 measure to continue the existing half-cent TransNet sales. The measure barely cleared the two-thirds vote threshold required for taxes.

It is a largely a promise the board made during that 2004 campaign that is driving the push for a follow-up countywide measure addressing quality of life. Four years ago, board members headed off a threat by environmental groups to oppose TransNet ---- and almost certainly seal its fate ---- by agreeing to put another measure on the ballot later to fund open space and endangered species habitat purchases.

San Diego County has been recognized around California for its innovative plans to set aside large swaths of natural vegetation to protect its diverse collection of imperiled species. But the region has been slow, according to some groups, to assemble the network of preserves called for in those plans.

If it contains nothing else, the 2010 measure has to have a habitat feature in it, said Coronado Councilwoman Carrie Downey.

"If we don't include this, we're going to be creamed by every environmental group in San Diego," Downey said.

For many officials, another must is an ocean, lagoon and river cleanup program that would target water running off streets, driveways and parking lots during storms. State water-quality regulators are pushing area cities to introduce expensive new programs to keep storm runoff from fouling water bodies, and most communities are struggling to find ways to pay for them, said Encinitas Mayor Jerome Stocks.

El Cajon Mayor Mark Lewis said the board might as well roll beach replenishment into the package, too, given that it would require $5 million a year ---- a small fraction of the funds the measure would generate. Gallegos said a half-cent tax would bring in $250 million.

And Lewis maintained that beach sand could be made the signature program for the package and actually boost its chances of passage. Noting that his residents of his own inland city frequently visit the coast, he said the beach is treasured by all county residents, no matter where they live, and is a driving force behind the region's tourism industry.

"It's the image of San Diego," Lewis said.

The image of the programs officials sought to fund was brought into focus with guest visits. The agency brought in the general manager of a Sonoma County open-space program funded by a sales tax, as well as a consultant for a bond-funded program that has curbed trash in Los Angeles' rain runoff 30 percent by covering storm drains with screens.

But Oceanside's Feller said that, while it's nice to mention successful examples, it's important to remember San Diego County's largely conservative electorate is less likely to approve a new tax measure than were the more liberal Los Angeles and Sonoma counties.

Contact staff writer Dave Downey at (760) 745-6611, Ext. 2623, or ddowney@nctimes.com.