Like all the other property owners in Alpine and the Back Country, we at The Alpine Sun received the county’s paper ballot in the mail asking that we approve a huge increase in the budget of the San Diego County Department of Environmental Health. We are being asked to voluntarily fund that increase directly from our own pockets by paying at least 16 times the fee that is currently being collected for vector control. For many residents, the amount would be much higher than the base 

Above,  the green and pink spots show the locations where West Nile Virus cases have been confirmed. Below, are the locations where San Diego County Department of Environmental Services has initiated larvicide applications. Maps from San Diego County Department of Environmental Health www.sdcounty.ca.gov/deh

amount of $8.33 in addition to the amount already being collected.
     We will vote a resounding ‘no’ and advise all other property owners to do the same.
     One has only to look at the map of the county’s vector control activities to date to understand that, while paying as much (or more) as city residents for vector control assistance, East County residents receive virtually none of the services funded by it.
     A careful read of the so-called Ballot information guide and official notice reveals that it is filled with hedging and vague language. Though it uses West Nile Virus control to argue the county’s need for the money — $7.3 million next year alone — it does not, in fact, guarantee that the money will be spent on West Nile virus control. It only says that the money will be spent on “mosquito, vector and disease control services...” This could mean anything from passing out literature on rat trapping or fly control to aerial spraying. Furthermore, DEH already directly charges user fees for the bulk of its direct services. Why not on this, as well? Property owners who allow bodies of water to be misquito breeding grounds should be cited and until they comply. Fines have proven to be an excellent source of revenue for other county departments.
     It also offers only the vaguest remarks about WHERE the vector controls will be applied: namely, “throughout San Diego County.” Well, the fee they have been collecting since 1989 is also supposed to have been spent throughout the county but we have yet to hear of a single rural resident who has received any services from the existing DEH fee, nor does the county’s own mosquito control map show anything being done for anyone east of Lakeside — and most are along the coast.
From a disease control standpoint, it makes sense to focus resources on the higher density population areas. It does NOT, however, make sense to overcharge underserved parties to cover the cost.
     In addition to providing no service to speak of in rural East County, the DEH is asking for a fee structure that inappropriately charges rural owners more than the amount paid by city residents because it is predicated on lot size and number of homes.
     Accountability? The information guide tells us that “the budget for the services proposed for each year will be presented to the public annually.” Big deal. The county’s entire budget is presented to the public each year. And “presented to” is certainly not the same thing as “approved by.”
     Even worse, this fee is supposed to become legal with only a simple majority (50 percent plus 1), rather than the two-thirds usually required for tax increases.
     Once approved, this fee will never go away and and the county has the right to raise it as much as 5 percent annually.
     Given the huge leap in fee size, its long term economic impacts on already overburdened taxpayers, and the lack of assurance regarding how it will be spent, residents from throughout the county are entitled to a better airing of the issues than is offered by this very sloppy and unsubstantiable polling method.
     A fee hike like this one should not be sneaked in under the radar with less-than-honest language and insecure polling. It deserves nothing less than inclusion on a REAL ballot that is not being sent and tabulated by the very people whose departmental budget will skyrocket if it passes.

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