What Happened To “Good Governance?”
It used to be standard practice among our elected officials to be the “gate keepers” of good governance. What happened that it no longer exists?
Well, the fact is, it does exist, but not among those who are earning hefty salaries as City and County elected officials. Over the last year-plus, we’ve seen rampant examples of mismanagement, misinformation, and as some call it, outright corruption by those who are supposed to lead by example. So now, the public at large, unpaid volunteers, have had to act on behalf of the public at large. And lawsuits against the city are growing every day.
For example, San Diego County Judge James A. Mangione has set the trial date of May 1, 2026, for the San Diego Superior Court lawsuit to void the trash tax San Diego City officials imposed on 224,000 San Diego homeowners. (Brown v. LaCava, case number 25CU025589C). Judge Mangione set the trial at least six days to try all the issues in the case.
San Diego homeowners, represented by attorneys at Aguirre & Severson, LLP, allege that the solid waste collection fee increases imposed by the City of San Diego violate California Constitution Article XIII(D) (The Right to Vote on Taxes Act). The alleged Constitutional violations are:
(1) the solid waste fees exceed the cost to provide solid waste collection by over $70 million;
(2) the solid waste fees are to be imposed for purposes other than for solid waste collection;
(3) the amount of solid waste collection fees to be imposed exceeds the proportional cost of solid waste collection attributable to the parcel;
(4) the solid waste collection fee is being imposed for services not immediately available to, or not actually used by, the property owners; and
(5) the solid waste collection fees are to be used for general governmental services.
San Diego homeowners allege these solid waste collection fee increases stem from the financial quagmire the City of San Diego is trapped in, which stems from the City’s growing pension debt with annual pension payments four times the “normal” pension liability; deferred maintenance of City storm water drains, streets, sidewalks, and alleys; and closed and deteriorating office space for City employees.
The City, represented by Jarvis Fay, LLP, has already begun issuing the trash tax, appearing on all San Diego homeowners’ Fiscal Year 2025-2026 property tax bill in the amount of $523.20.
The trial set for May 1, 2026, is a crucial step for these Constitutional violations to be decided in Court impacting San Diego homeowners.
This is just one of many lawsuits that the city is now dealing with because of questionable devious actions and potential corruption by city officials.
And now the county supervisors, led by Board Chair Terra Lawson-Remer and Vice Chair Monica Montgomery Steppe, have already directed county staff to hire and pay consultants up to $500,000 to conduct polling and research on potential measures to raise taxes and other possible ways to increase county revenues. Democrats on the county Board of Supervisors are considering a push to raise taxes and using county resources to help gauge if voters would support a ballot measure in 2026.
The County of San Diego used to be one of the best run governmental entities in the State of California.
Again, we ask, “What is happening?”
It means, people in office have lost sight of their roles. They were elected to serve the public at large, not “the public at large serve them!”
Residents across the city and county are actively engaging to hold elected officials accountable and re-establish good governance. I hope you are doing your as part as well.
Category: feature, Finance, Government, Lawsuits, Local News, Politics, Trash
