A San Diego County ballot measure to raise taxes could be coming \u2014 and supervisors continue to lay the groundwork for voters potentially to weigh in.<\/p>\n
Two supervisors are deputizing themselves to conduct a top-down review of county contracts, hoping to find ways to squeeze savings from the $2.2 billion spent each year on outsourcing work and services.<\/p>\n
The review will be performed by a subcommittee helmed by Supervisors Paloma Aguirre and Joel Anderson.<\/p>\n
For months, Chair Terra Lawson-Remer has warned the county needs to bring in more revenue, potentially through a ballot measure, to avoid cuts to its spending and programs.<\/p>\n
For its current-year budget, the county had to erase a $138 million deficit.<\/p>\n
Soon, new requirements for administering federal programs like Medicaid and food stamps could add to future budget gaps, with the county estimating new costs of up to $300 million each year.<\/p>\n
During a Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday, Anderson said a review of county contracts could give elected officials peace of mind, should they decide to put a ballot measure to voters.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf down the road additional revenue\u2019s required, we can at least look in the mirror and say we did everything in our power to make sure we didn\u2019t have to change the revenue,\u201d Anderson said.<\/p>\n
Aguirre and Anderson say the duties of the subcommittee will include a review of whether the work done by contractors could be put out to bid again or brought in-house to be performed by county staff.<\/p>\n
Additional scrutiny will focus on county contracting practices, how the county tracks contract performance and whether more contracts could be awarded to local businesses.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur goal is not to disrupt services or take a sledgehammer to contracts,\u201d Aguirre said. \u201cOur goal is to take a scalpel and carefully examine where we can save money, improve performance and strengthen service delivery.\u201d<\/p>\n
Supervisors have already set up a separate subcommittee to examine how the county could bring in more revenue.<\/p>\n
In October, that panel moved to hire an outside firm to identify the county\u2019s revenue options and help draft a ballot measure ahead of launching a public relations campaign to sway voters.<\/p>\n
Such subcommittees largely work outside of the public view, which in part led Supervisor Jim Desmond to cast the lone vote against the creation of Aguirre and Anderson\u2019s subcommittee.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t feel that they\u2019re transparent enough, and they leave highly technical issues to politicians instead of the professionals,\u201d Desmond said. \u201cIf we really wanted to conduct a review of our contracts and agreements, we should utilize our professional staff.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, supervisors backed a second measure, that one proposed by Desmond, aimed at a review of another area of county spending: homelessness.<\/p>\n
Desmond wants to explore a county-commissioned audit of homelessness spending across the region, to build on two other recent reviews of homelessness spending.<\/p>\n