Santee's Sales Tax Endorsement Comes With a Caveat — and El Cajon Funds a Fire Station
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The San Diego County Taxpayers Association has endorsed Santee's proposed 10-year, one-cent general sales tax measure headed for the November ballot — a significant shift from the same organization's opposition to Santee's 2024 Measure S. The restructured proposal includes a 10-year sunset, exemptions for groceries, prescription medicine, and diapers, and annual independent audits overseen by a citizens' committee. City officials project the measure would generate roughly $140 million over the decade, directed at streets, sidewalks, storm drains, bridges, parks, and fire and paramedic infrastructure, citing an estimated $327.7 million in unfunded infrastructure needs. Approval would push Santee's sales tax rate from 7.75 percent to 8.75 percent — the highest among East County cities.
The endorsement, however, is explicitly qualified. The Taxpayers Association flagged at the time of its announcement that the ballot language does not legally dedicate proceeds to the advertised projects. As a general sales tax, revenue flows into the general fund and can legally be spent on anything the City Council chooses. The oversight committee and audits are procedural safeguards, but they do not bind the council the way a restricted special tax would. The association urged stronger safeguards even as it issued its endorsement — a posture closer to conditional approval than a full-throated recommendation.
In El Cajon, the City Council unanimously approved $7.2 million to rebuild Heartland Fire's Station 7 in Fletcher Hills, adding a second apparatus bay and nearly doubling the station's square footage. Construction is scheduled to begin this fall. The investment directly expands apparatus capacity in an area that sits within high and very high fire hazard severity zones.
El Cajon police also issued a renewed public appeal this week for tips in the 1998 homicide of Alicia Sanchez, whose remains were found in a wooded area. The appeal was published August 15. Anyone with information is urged to contact El Cajon Police directly.