Why I Am Opposing The Measure S Sales Tax Increase – An Open Letter To My Neighbors
Dear Neighbor:
I have been a resident in our County for over 65 years and proudly served as a volunteer firefighter with the Coloma-Lotus Volunteer Fire Department in my younger days. Over the years I have watched our firefighting bureaucrats empire build and waste money on high administrative salaries and practices like dispatching both an engine and an a para-medic unit on every call instead of sending just the para-medic unit on medical calls or just an engine on a fire call unless both are requested by the citizen calling for help. As for Marshall Hospital, why has it built or purchased new buildings like it’s medical centers in Cameron Park, El Dorado Hills, and Placerville (across from Walmart) instead of paying for the retrofit? Here is what every voter should know about Measure S.
Measure S is an additional SALES TAX INCREASE placed on the ballot by Marshall Hospital to benefit three special interests and their formula to divide up our money after they take it from us:
- 50% given to Marshall Hospital – An individual business competing against other hospitals and clinics.
- 45% divided amongst 13 Fire District & Department Bureaucracies – Under a formula that favors the richest districts & departments.
- 5% divided amongst 20 Fire Safe Councils that existed prior to November 2025 – prohibiting future organizations that may better serve local communities from ever receiving Measure S funding.
If Measure S passes it will raise our sales tax to 7.625 cents for the next 30 years, meaning we will have to pay $7.63 each time we spend $100 on gasoline, diesel fuel, online purchases or in local stores. Thus, spending $100 will actually cost you $107.63. Worse, Measure S will raise the Sales tax to 8.625 cents in Placerville and 9.125 cents in South Lake Tahoe. Sales tax costs will also increase with inflation. Doing the math, you can see that if you buy an appliance for $1,000 you will pay an extra $72.65 for the next 30 years – plus any other taxes and fees foisted upon us in future years.
Our local fire bureaucrats are asking us for more money. Nearly 30 years ago, voters approved a ½ cent sales tax increase requiring our Board of Supervisors to allocate that sales tax money for public safety. Our already high countywide sales tax is 7 1/4 cents and we also pay a county-wide ambulance tax.
Marshall Hospital says it needs your sales tax money to pay for State mandated seismic retrofit requirements taking effect in 2030 from a result of the State Legislature enacting AB 1882 back in 1983. What they are not telling you is that all of the other hospitals in our service area are somehow financing their retrofits by other means.
Measure S contains several flaws:
First, only previously existing fire safe councils can receive Measure S funding, preventing the formation of new organizations that may better serve local communities.
Second, only self-interested medical industry insiders and fire department bureaucrats are eligible to serve on the proposed Measure S Board charged with overseeing the money, eliminating ordinary taxpayers and their common sense.
Third, none of the money is directly allocated to forest thinning or fuels reduction, the most proven methods of preventing catastrophic wildfires.
Fourth, the sales tax increase stays in place if Marshall Hospital is sold to a major chain corporation or goes bankrupt.
Proponents claim that Measure S sales tax money can only be given to Marshall Hospital, fire districts, fire departments and firesafe councils is false and misleading. The reality is that the California State Legislature can change sales tax allocations with a majority vote, change the California State Constitution with a 2/3 vote, and has a long history of raiding local governments for their sales and property tax money to balance California’s budget during recessions or overspending binges.
During presentations, Measure S proponents are bragging that they have a $1.2 million dollar budget to entice voters to pass the Measure S tax increase. However, FPPC disclosure filings show that little financial support is coming from individual fire fighters or members of the community at-large. Instead, the money is coming from Marshall Hospital, Marshall’s administrative staff members, business related health care providers, and large construction companies, with over $586,000 coming from Marshall Hospital alone!
Proponents claim widespread community support, yet official California State Fair Political Practices Commission, or FPPC, disclosure filings show that the Measure S committee could not find enough local volunteer supporters and had to pay two out-of-area petition circulation companies a combined $235,410 to get enough signatures to qualify this tax hike. Furthermore, as of September 24 of this year, the proponents political action committee, El Dorado Ready, are reporting to the FPPC that since January 1, 2025 has only received $52.67 in small donor contributions of $100 or less.
We should all agree that Crony Capitalism is wrong. If Measure S passes, we should expect other special interests to use the ballot box to vote themselves money. Could we then see a favored bail bond company partnering with the Sheriff’s office or District Attorney’s Office for another tax increase?… Or perhaps a crony capitalist deal with a single construction company colluding with the Board of Supervisors to build a public works project whereby it gets all of the work and profits by raising our taxes?
Measure S is morally wrong in that it requires taxpayers to help fund a politically connected business with profitably problems, thus requiring taxpayers to favor one business over competing businesses.
Measure S is a sweetheart deal for a single private hospital and an empire-building scheme for fire department bureaucrats.
Please join me in opposing Measure S.
Dan Dellinger
Dan Dellinger is a government relations and political consultant based in El Dorado County who can be reached at dandellinger@infostation.com
