City Council Candidate Q&A: Measure S

The election for San Marino City Council and is next Tuesday so Patch wants to recap where the candidates stand on different issues.

One of the major issues is . Measure S would continue the public safety tax that funds almost a third of San Marino Fire Department and San Marino Police Department. The tax will be imposed upon each parcel of property, but will not be measured by the value of the property, according to the text of the measure. See the full text of Measure S attached to this article or on the city's website.

The following is ’s response to whether or not she will vote for Measure S. The other three candidates’ responses are on video in this article.

Will you vote for to extend the public safety tax? Why or why not?

I’m going to vote for the public safety tax.

It has been a tax that has been on the books for many years now. I think it maybe goes back to 1986 and the city is a full-service city and we just need the supplemental revenue to make ends meet and they’ve counted on this for quite a long time.

Could the city function without it? Yes. Right now this tax is through 2012. If this didn’t pass there is time to readjust before next June before they do the next budget if they could possibly put it up for reelection in March.

If the tax doesn’t pass, what I’m afraid will happen is we will be reacting and that’s not the best position to be in for financial planning. It’s always good to be able to plan and get things right and do it in a very prudent way that’s fair to everybody—the employees and the taxpayers—rather than to have to react and just start cutting. In that way I am going to vote yes with the hope that the city will address the issues of employee compensation.

See the arguments for and against Measure S on the city's website here.