Another sales tax vote? Unions, nonprofits team up to get countywide half-cent hike on 2026 ballot

After months of trial balloons and public warnings, San Diego County is one step closer to seeing a sales tax measure on the ballot in November.

A coalition of labor unions and nonprofits have banded together to start collecting signatures for a potential ballot measure that would ask voters to help fund county government with a half-cent sales tax surcharge.

If passed, the tax would be expected to raise $360 million for the county’s budget in its first year, said David Lagstein, a spokesperson for SEIU Local 221, the largest labor union representing county employees and one of the groups pushing the measure.

Money raised from the tax surcharge would help fund some of the most pressing issues facing county government, namely a strained social safety net, the Tijuana River Valley sewage crisis and wildfire safety, according to paperwork filed with the Registrar of Voters on Dec. 12.

“This measure is about San Diego protecting San Diego — no more excuses, no more waiting for Washington or Sacramento to change,” SEIU President Crystal Irving said in a statement.

Others pushing the sales tax surcharge include the county firefighters union and a network of some of the region’s leading nonprofit and philanthropic groups.

Among the members of Children First Collective San Diego, which signed the election paperwork, are the San Diego Foundation, the YMCA, Jewish Family Service and San Diego State University.

The emergence of a citiz...