Now what?
The failure of a $52, countywide parcel tax for fire protection has left its backers with few options for how to fund the regional agency envisioned in Proposition A.
Except the most obvious. The clarion call of the ballot measure’s opponents was that the county’s elected officials ought to pay for the costs – about $26 million annually – out of their nearly $5.2 billion budget.
The county Board of Supervisors has been reluctant to even discuss that option, preferring to ask voters for money instead. At the same time, the supervisors aren’t shy about boasting of their fiscal discipline and robust reserves of $819 million.