Tax Realty Consultant

County health officials will spend $25,000 to determine whether property taxes could be raised to pay for increased efforts to control insect-borne diseases.

County supervisors on Tuesday authorized the expenditure, which will fund a campaign to gauge whether county voters support a benefit assessment that would increase the typical residential property tax bill by $10 per year. The new tax would create a countywide vector control district and generate nearly $1 million annually. That money would be spent primarily on mosquito control to prevent an outbreak of West Nile virus, a potentially deadly disease.

Jeff Hamm, county health agency director, said it will take his staff and a consultant about four months to complete the educational campaign and report back to supervisors on whether it is advisable to schedule an election.

Supervisors voted 4-1 to approve the expenditure, with Supervisor Harry Ovitt voting “no.”

West Nile virus tends to break out in hot spots in different parts of the state each year, said Dr. Greg Thomas, county health officer. No one in San Luis Obispo County has become infected with the disease this year, but neighboring Kern County is this year’s hot spot with 137 human cases.

The county Health Department spends $300,000 a year on vector control with three staff members dedicated to the program. This is less than in comparable counties in the state.

A recent report by the county’s civil grand jury recommended the creation of a vector control district. Four of the supervisors said a district makes sense because it would create a reliable source of money for pest-control activities rather than relying on state grants.

“This is an insurance policy,” said Supervisor Jerry Lenthall. “To not do this would be betting against ourselves.”

Ovitt said he opposes the idea because he thinks there is little chance that voters will approve a tax increase in light of the slumping housing market. He would prefer to spend the $250,000 it would cost to conduct an election on the county’s current programs.

“What we are investing now is working,” he said.

Supervisors have two types of elections they can put on the ballot: a parcel tax or a benefit assessment. Staff is recommending the use of a benefit assessment.

In a benefit assessment, only property owners would be allowed to vote and each vote would be weighted depending on the amount of the assessment of the property. A similar vote was recently used to authorize construction of a sewer in Los Osos.

In a parcel tax, all voters — not just property owners — in the county would be allowed to participate, but the measure would have to pass by a two-thirds margin.