By Bruce Barton and Megan Ma

Measure A supporters Larry Carr, Irene Sampson and Carl Guardino discuss the Measure A initiative. The Measure A bond on the June 6 ballot would fund health care and transportation and cost taxpayers a projected $8 billion over 30 years.

Measure A is intended to fund county health and transportation projects that would otherwise go begging because of the county’s budget shortfall, proponents say. Opponents contend that the half-cent sales tax is a back-door vehicle for getting more money for the Valley Transportation Authority and its largest project, extending BART to San Jose.

The proposal, put on the June 6 primary ballot by the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors, would fund a variety of county projects, from seismic upgrades for Valley Medical Center to health insurance for uninsured children and transportation improvements. The tax is projected to raise $8.2 billion over 30 years. If passed, the tax would become effective Oct. 1.

County Supervisor Liz Kniss, a former nurse who represents the Los Altos area in District 5, said she voted for putting Measure A on the ballot because money would go to needed health services and local roads, such as Foothill Expressway, that otherwise might not get funding.

“If Measure A doesn’t pass, we will be in a fight to the death over money,” she said recently. Over the last four years, the county has seen budget cuts of $640 million in state and federal allocations, according to a public memo released by Kniss and county supervisor James Beall Jr.

Carl Guardino, CEO of Silicon Valley Leadership Group, argued the downturn in the economy stands at the root of budget deficits in major transit projects from pothole repairs in 17 cities to BART extension. “We have to invest in this county. We’re not a one-trick pony,” he said.

Kniss said she expects 60 percent of Measure A funding would go to health care and 40 percent to transportation projects.

One major misconception about Measure A, Kniss said, is that the money would be targeted for the BART extension into San Jose.

“This is not about BART,” she said. The VTA, she said, already has the funding capacity under financing passed by voters in 2000. “They will probably break ground next year,” she said.

Opponents of Measure A contend that the measure is “a back-room deal to funnel your tax dollars to the VTA.” Los Altos City Councilman David Casas, who served as the council’s liaison to the VTA, leads the opposition’s arguments to the measure, as does Mountain View City Councilman Greg Perry. Casas said the county supervisors’ lack of transparency on the transportation portion of the sales tax was “unethical.”

Perry characterized the actions of the Measure A proponents including county supervisors, as “essentially holding social services hostage to pay for bad projects. ‘If you don’t grant us money to do whatever we like, we’re going to deny health care to poor people,’” he said.

“Our tax money should not go to an agency this irresponsible,” opponents say in their ballot argument, citing the VTA’s inefficiency. “They spend more per bus than nearly every other transit agency in the nation.”

Opponents also note that the VTA already receives $400 million annually, including funding from a 1 percent sales tax.

“If the county needs the money, we can vote on a quarter-percent tax in November,” opponents said, contending that the lesser amount would be enough to cover projected budget deficits.

Proponents say the law requires a citizens’ oversight committee to review an annual audit of Measure A funding. But opponents say the committee “won’t have the legal power to block a single wasteful project.”

Because Measure A does not target a specific program, it needs only a majority vote for passage. Otherwise, a two-thirds majority would have been required.

The money would go into the general budget and be used at the supervisors’ discretion.