CARLSBAD — Last week, a split majority of the City Council approved a ballot measure for the November election asking voters to increase the spending limits under Proposition H.
First adopted by Carlsbad voters in 1982, Proposition H requires voter approval on projects that involve the city spending more than $1 million to purchase or improve property.
The ballot measure will ask voters to increase the expenditure limit to $3.09 million, which is equivalent to the original $1 million threshold approved 42 years ago in today’s dollars. The measure would also add an inflation index to the limit and exempt public safety facilities — for example, a police or fire station — from the limit.
If voters approve the measure, the new limit and other changes would go into effect Jan. 1.
While all council members agreed on the public safety exemption clause of the ballot measure, Councilmember Melanie Burkholder and Councilmember Carolyn Luna felt the change to the expenditure limit didn’t do enough to convince voters to spend city coffers to get the measure on this year’s ballot.
The San Diego County Registrar of Voters estimated it would cost Carlsbad between $135,000 and $175,000 to put the measure on this November’s ballot.
“The math does not work for me,” Luna said at the June 18 meeting.
According to Luna, the $3.09 million change to the spending limit wouldn’t change much because most projects in the pipeline are far more expensive and would require voter approval down the line anyway. She suggested a $5 million threshold would more likely work for what the ballot measure is trying to achieve.
Ultimately, Mayor Keith Blackburn, Mayor Pro Tem Priya Bhat-Patel and Councilmember Teresa Acosta together were enough to pass the measure.
Acosta reminded the others that the Carlsbad Tomorrow Committee recommended that the City Council approve a ballot measure requesting the Prop H changes.
“The Carlsbad Tomorrow Committee recommended that we raise the limit, and the reason is because it’s been stuck at this even $1 million since 1982, and everything costs more in 2024 and will continue to cost more, so the raising of the limit was really just to equate it to today’s dollars,” Acosta said. “I would be happy with raising it more so we could not put some projects on the ballot that we need to get done like the $5 million Luna mentioned but we agreed and had this conversation that $3.09 million was more or less the $1 million in today’s dollars.”
The City Council approved the proposed reforms to Prop H earlier in June after a committee recommendation before returning to approve the ballot measure in its entirety on June 18.
