City council members are toying with the idea of bringing two
failed ballot measures back to voters in an attempt to snatch
victory from the jaws of defeat. We offer a split verdict on the
notion.
City council members are toying with the idea of bringing two failed ballot measures back to voters in an attempt to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. We offer a split verdict on the notion.
Measure G, a 2 percent utility tax, was defeated by Morgan Hill voters by a two-to-one margin, even though the measure only needed a simple majority for approval.
The reason that Measure G only needed a simple majority was that it was a general tax slated for the city’s general fund and could be spent on anything, even though city leaders promised to spend it on funding nine new police department positions, including seven new sworn officers
Diagnosis differences
Council member Marby Lee thinks that’s why the measure failed, and that voters will look more favorably on a special tax that can only be spent on the stated purpose, even though a special tax requires a much more difficult to achieve two-thirds majority approval.
We disagree. We don’t believe most voters are aware of these fine-point differences and instead, due to the economic and political climate, were unwilling to spend more money.
Council member Greg Sellers says he won’t support another attempt at passing a utility tax measure “unless broad community support was demonstrated.” Given that the economy has worsened significantly since the November election when Measure G failed, we suspect Sellers will be waiting a very long time for that support.
Vibrant downtown
Measure H is another story, however. This no-cost measure to boost housing downtown failed by only 10 votes and was the victim of neglect.
It was placed on the ballot and then forgotten by the folks who have the most to gain by its passage, downtown business owners and developers.
We fully support placing a retooled version of Measure H before the voters, as city council members recently decided to do.
However, we believe council should have waited until the next regular election instead of incurring the extra cost of a special election.
This time, we’re looking forward to a vigorous campaign to educate and persuade voters of the wisdom of exempting 500 units from the city’s permit competition while keeping Morgan Hill’s population cap unchanged.
