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closeI seldom predict anything. But today I’ll risk predicting that the county’s proposed vector control tax will be exterminated.
County property owners are now voting on it. This mail-in election ends June 23. I’ve talked to only one person who favors it, Paso Robles City Councilman Nick Gilman.
Tuesday night he was the only council member to oppose the city’s casting of “No” votes in this vector tax election. Also, he and I may be the only two Roblans who have voted “Yes” on it.
The city gets to vote because the city owns several properties. This election is just for property owners. The tax is so much per parcel. If you don’t own property, you won’t pay the tax, so you don’t get to vote.
The city owns several parcels, so it got several ballots. Mamie and I only own our house, so we got just one ballot.
I hate to criticize the campaign of the side I voted for, but I will.
For one thing, they didn’t say who they are. I read their information booklet but couldn’t discover what department is requesting this tax. That doesn’t help their credibility. I guessed it’s the Environmental Health Division of the County Public Health Department.
Also, they didn’t lay much foundation. They should have sent speakers to every service club, civic group, farm group and senior citizens group in the county. And those speakers should have explained in plain talk exactly how the county planned to use the money and why.
First they should have explained that “vectors” are simply bugs and animals that can make us sick because they carry germs, and that “vectors” include mosquitoes, ticks, fleas, ground squirrels and the like.
But instead of coming to us, they scheduled three information meetings and expected us to go to them.
They should have given us case histories of victims, such as the 72-year-old man in this county who was infected by a mosquito carrying West Nile Virus. He spent 15 months in the hospital, including months on a ventilator and was partially paralyzed.
Their information booklet needed to be conversational and informal. It wasn’t.
And it should have laid out a detailed action plan and budget for the first year. The proposed tax would raise $1.1 million per year. Voters want specifics.
The tax on my house would be only $9.80 per year to protect us from dangerous germs. With some imaginative thinking that could have been sold to the majority.
Contact Phil Dirkx at phild2008@sbcglobal.net or 238-2372.
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