Measure B Aims To Raise Carlsbad's Spending Limit

CARLSBAD, CA — Carlsbad voters will decide whether to raise the city's spending limit.

Measure B seeks to amend Proposition H, a voter-approved initiative from 1982 that prohibits the city from spending more than $1 million in city funds to acquire or improve real property without voter approval. City funds include sales tax, property tax and the tax visitors pay on stays in hotels and vacation rentals.

If approved, Measure B would raise the limit to $3.09 million and adjust the limit annually based on the percentage increase in the regional construction cost index. It would also exempt public safety facilities from the limit.

The City Council voted in June to place the measure on the November ballot. Because Proposition H was adopted by voters, it can only be amended by voters.

An argument filed in favor of Measure B, co-signed by Mayor Keith Blackburn, Mayor Pro Tem Priya Bhat-Patel and Councilmember Teresa Acosta, said the measure maintains voter authority established in 1982 with Proposition H.

"Had the $1 million expenditure limit, established in 1982, included an annual adjustment based on the Construction Cost Index, the limit would be $3.09 million today. Raising the expenditure limit to this amount would allow the expenditure limit to remain consistent with voter intent in 1982," the argument reads in part. "Measure B makes sense because it maintains the voter's role in authorizing real property related expenditures, modernizes the expenditure limit to current values, and allows public safety facilities such as fire stations to be constructed at a quicker pace saving the city both time and money."

Measure B requires a simple majority to pass.

Voters can learn more about the measure, and others on ballots across the region, on the county's election website.