Dear Editor,
This letter is in response to Mr. Collier, who wrote a letter in
response to your story on the possible effects on the county budget
if both Santa Clara County Measure A and state Proposition 90 pass
at the voter’s box.
Dear Editor,
This letter is in response to Mr. Collier, who wrote a letter in response to your story on the possible effects on the county budget if both Santa Clara County Measure A and state Proposition 90 pass at the voter’s box.
 Mr. Collier said The Dispatch “helped to publicize a misunderstanding of the possible negative interactions of Measure A and Proposition 90.” In fact, there is no misunderstanding.
Here are the facts: County Counsel Ann Ravel wrote a memo to the Legislative Committee of the Board of Supervisors that alerted supervisors to the fact that Proposition 90 could require the county to reimburse property owners if their property values were lowered by the passage of Measure A. These reimbursements – and the legal costs associated with them – could cost Santa Clara County millions of dollars.
Professor Girard, the author of Measure A, wrote a letter to Ms. Ravel, protesting her analysis and asking for a retraction of her report. Though Mr. Collier’s letter says there was a “misunderstanding,” nothing could be further from the truth. In her response letter, Ms. Ravel did not retract her analysis, and in fact reiterated her concerns about the joint passage of Prop 90 and Measure A.
Both of County Counsel Ravel’s memos are available to view at www.VoteNoOnMeasureA.com. We encourage your readers to read the documents for themselves and then join the Santa Clara County Farm Bureau, the Santa Clara County Cattlemen’s Association, and the Wine Growers of the Santa Clara Valley in voting no on Measure A.
Jan Garrod, President-elect, Santa Clara County Farm Bureau
