Coalition Gauging Support for Countywide Sales-Tax Hike

A coalition of labor and advocacy groups last week pushed out a poll on a possible countywide half-cent sales tax measure to prevent public safety and health care cuts and fund causes including expanded child care and solutions to the Tijuana River sewage crisis. 

The citizens group estimates the tax increase, if approved by voters in 2026, could pull in $360 million annually. The county’s current sales-tax rate is 7.75 percent. 

The coalition, which includes the county’s largest labor union and child care advocacy organization Children First Collective, issued the poll to gauge whether a tax measure could be viable. 

Courtney Baltiyskyy of Children First Collective said the coalition expects to make big decisions in the next couple weeks as it reviews the results. 

“The goal is still to do something transformative for the region in 2026,” said Baltiyskyy, whose group previously circulated its own poll on a standalone child care measure. 

Baltiyskyy said members of the coalition that includes Service Employees International Union Local 221have since decided they need to row in the same direction at a time when many San Diegans are grappling with skyrocketing bills and uncertainty.  

That also means sharing intel with another group mulling whether to pitch a one-cent sales tax increase in the city of San Diego. Labors Local 89, Carpenters Union Local 619 and Rebuild SoCal have circulated two related polls in recent months testing voters’ potential support for separate city and county measures. 

That collaboration follows the November 2024 demise of Measures E and G, separate city and countywide sales-tax proposals. San Diego politicos are skeptical voters would support two sales-tax hikes. 

The countywide coalition’s poll also aims to gauge support for both the countywide measure and the city measure, which the poll says would raise $400 million annually to shield the city from public safety cuts, upgrade water, road and flood prevention infrastructure and more. 

The results of an initial poll of city voters conducted around Labor Day on the city measure suggest both city and county measures would face an uphill battle. 

Results obtained by Voice of San Diego show 57 percent of the 776 voters polled said they thought the county was on the wrong track and 60 percent said the same of the city.  

Though both the city and countywide coalitions promise transparency on sales-tax spending audits and other controls, that distrust means winning over even a simple majority of voters will be challenging.  

Baltiyskyy acknowledged even the road to the ballot won’t be easy for the countywide coalition. If the group decides to proceed, it will need to start gathering signatures in the coming months and then raise millions for a campaign. 

“Whatever is coming together for ‘26 will certainly be a significant undertaking, and the hope is multi-sector partners really stand together in this critical time to make a big impact,” Baltiyskyy said. 

Among the groups that could make a significant impact is the Deputy Sheriffs Association of San Diego County, which could draw interest from more conservative and public safety-focused voters. 

In a statement, DSA president Mike O’Deane wrote that his union is not yet supporting a ballot measure, but it’s interested. 

“We are participating with a coalition of county employee and community groups to ensure that the needs of the deputies – including staffing levels and facility needs – are represented,” O’Deane wrote. “This includes some research on public support for, among other things, public safety funding needs.” 

SEIU 221 declined to directly confirm its support of the recent polling and directed Voice to Baltiyskyy for comment.  

Representatives from the United Domestic Workers and Cal Fire Firefighters Local 2881, which have also spoken about the need for more revenue to shield the county from cuts, did not return messages from Voice last week. 

Representatives from all these groups spoke or wrote letters in support in late September of a Board of Supervisors subcommittee that will allow Chair Terra Lawson-Remer and Vice Chair Monica Montgomery Steppe to work with county staff and consultants to hash out ways the county might bring in more revenue. The board’s three Democrats on Sept. 30 approved the creation of the subcommittee and directed county staff to hire and pay consultants up to $500,000 to conduct polling and research on potential measures to raise taxes and other possible ways to increase county revenues. 

The county issued a request for bids from consultants that are due early this month.  

For now, the citizen group’s efforts are separate from the upcoming county dives. 

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