Ballot Proposal on Crime-Fighting Tax Pondered

A $14.7-million anti-drug and anti-gang “wish list” of programs could become part of a ballot measure aimed at beefing up San Diego’s police force under a plan reviewed Wednesday by a San Diego City Council committee.

At its budget discussions this spring, the City Council will decide whether to ask voters in 1992 for permission to levy a special “parcel tax” to raise the revenue for a substantial increase in the police force, perhaps to a the long-sought goal of two officers per 1,000 residents.

As part of that debate, the council will review a master plan for its anti-drug and anti-gang efforts that includes the list of unmet needs presented Wednesday to its Public Services and Safety Committee.

The plan includes $4.4 million to place 63 foot patrol officers in seven city neighborhoods that have been heavily affected by the drug trade; $3.1 million to put 36 armed “park rangers” in 12 gang-infested parks; $1.5 million to add 17 officers to the Police Department unit that combats street-level drug sales, and $1.4 million to expand an anti-drug education program into middle schools and junior high schools.

Also include on the list is $200,000 to create a local drug czar’s post.

Non-police requests on the list include $523,000 to expand library hours; $773,000 to add children’s librarians to branch libraries, and $708,000 to expand recreation center and after school playground programs.

Under four options outlined by the city manager’s office last August, the council could, with voter approval, levy a tax on each piece of city property that would add as many as 619 sworn officers to the force over four years and bring it to a level of two officers per thousand.

The largest of the four taxes suggested in the report would assess a single-family home $54 beginning in the first fiscal year and gradually raise that to $261 in the fifth year.