Image by Jonathan Cutrer

Let’s take a spin at this game: What ballot measure, you might ask, are pols like CM Cohen lauding and mistakenly linking to a wacky understanding of American civics? Bonus question: Would it shock you if all this bill does is make it easier for gov’t to borrow money for non-priority projects, incurring debt on your dime? A Proposition 5 breakdown below from HJTA’s VP of Comms, Susan Shelley.

Proposition 5 makes it easier to raise property taxes.

The November ballot measure gets around Proposition 13’s limitations on property tax increases by making it easier for local governments to pass bonds, a method of borrowing money that is then paid back — with interest — by adding extra charges to property tax bills, sometimes for decades.Sign up to receive updates on Opp Now articles. Click HERE.

When property taxes rise, there’s little consideration of a homeowner’s ability to pay, or any hardship or disability. If people fall behind on their property taxes, their homes can be sold out from under them.

Currently, local bonds require a two-thirds vote of the electorate. This type of taxpayer protection predates the 1879 California Constitution and was first inscribed during the state’s inaugural constitutional convention three decades earlier.

The handwritten document from the Gold Rush era states, “It shall be the duty of the legislature to provide for the organization of cities and incorporated villages, and to restrict their power of taxation, assessment, borrowing money, contracting debts, and loaning their credit, so as to prevent abuses in assessments and in contracting debts by such municipal corporations.”

Today’s legislature thinks it knows better. Prop. 5 would slash the two-thirds vote requirement down to 55%, allowing cities and other local government entities to pile debt onto residents.

In 2000, voters were persuaded to pass Proposition 39 and cut the vote threshold for school bonds from two-thirds down to 55%. In the years since, that’s made it much easier for districts to pass parcel taxes to pay for school buildings. We can see the impact on our tax bills.

Prop. 5 would cut the vote requirement for nearly everything else. If the proposition passes, governments will be able to more easily borrow money for “public infrastructure,” which includes everything from facilities, parks and emergency services to transit improvements, libraries and ports. The lower vote threshold would also apply to new debt for utilities, disaster protections and home hardening.

It’s not just cities and counties that can take on debt, either. So can “a transit district, a regional transportation commission, and an association of governments.”

Read the whole thing here.

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