In adding 11 polling places to the Nov. 8 vote, Orange County commissioners have taken an important step toward ensuring that a win for the quarter-cent sales tax isn’t a loss for democracy — but they shouldn’t be too pleased with themselves. The reappearance of this referendum, especially in a year when much of its rural opposition is expected to stay home, gives the appearance of sneaky governmental tampering in a vote that is supposed to be in the people’s hands.
Regardless of the results, commissioners must show more originality — and regard for the will of their constituents — in the future.
Voters rejected the tax by a slim margin last year, only to have the county revive it in a year when its primary opponents — rural voters — have nothing else on the ballot. The continued duress of the past year has proven that this tax is necessary to generate revenue for education and economic development, but it’s discouraging that the county could not devise an alternative.
Rather than seriously consider another generator of this revenue, the county quickly pinned the tax’s failure on the failure by voters to understand it and by the county to promote it. That self-assured attitude ultimately led the county to devote $50,000 to an education campaign this year — $10,000 more than the one from last year.
About $7,700 more will be needed to operate the sales tax-only polls. Bernadette Pelissier, chairwoman of the Orange County Board of Commissioners, said that’s a small price to pay compared to what the county stands to gain through the tax. And she’s right.
But the irony — and disappointment — of having to use additional taxpayer funds on a tax taxpayers rejected should not be lost on Pelissier and her fellow commissioners.
