SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — Two measures on the ballot in San Diego would increase the sales tax in order to provide more funding for infrastructure around the city and county. As of 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, "no" votes led the way on both measures, but they were still too close to call at that point.
Measure S would help fund projects for the Santee Fire Department. That measure proposed a half-cent sales tax hike that firefighters told ABC 10News would ultimately help their response times around the city and its growing population.
The latest results show 53% voting no, and 47% voting yes.
ABC 10News reporter Marie Coronel spoke to SFD Chief Justin Matsushita about how the funds would help his department.
"The measure would have really accelerated our ability to add infrastructure here... We have challenges here. We have had two fire stations since 1964," the chief says.
SFD has added personnel and equipment in those stations, and the chief says they have no more physical beds or bays to put people in.
"The measure would have facilitated a new fire station in the south and to the north, which we have extended response times and replacing this fire station, which is 50 years old that takes a beating. It would have been a tremendous benefit for this city," Matsushita says.
The chief says they've seen a dramatic amount of increase in the people who live in and visit the city.
"They took it upon themselves and said we don't wait to wait 20, 30 years for this infrastructure to be done, and so they proposed this tax measure with a 15-year sunset to get us to that point relatively quickly," Matsushita says.
The chief also says he understands everyone's dollar doesn't go as far as it used to go, but he pointed out there are still a lot of needs.
"We were hoping this would pass... But now we have to go to plan B," he says.
Watch the video below and in the player at the top of this page for more perspective on the measure.
