Politics Report: A Clean Ocean Tax

By Scott Lewis and Andrew Keatts, the Voice of San Diego

June 26, 2021

The Environment Committee of the San Diego City Council is set to talk about some interesting information city staff has gathered: Just how excited San Diegans may be to pay a higher tax and support clean water.

What’s coming: On July 6, city staff is going to release polling it commissioned from FM3, the LA-based surveyors (who also helped us with our Voice Poll). The poll tested public support for a tax to help pay the up to $2 billion in estimated costs to prepare the city to better deal with stormwater. The tax as envisioned would be 4 cents per square foot of impervious land a person owns in San Diego – in other words you’d pay 4 cents for every square foot of land where water can’t just seep into the ground, so think roofs, driveways, parking lots, etc. Ostensibly, property owners could seek variances if they make modifications to allow rainwater to get into the ground.

Take the logic out further and other landowners could swap credits for that kind of action. It’s all unclear.

The polling is set to be released July 6 and discussed at the Environment Committee July 15 along with the results of focus groups and other research. The polling apparently shows very high support for a tax like

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