Measure K, the initiative passed by two-thirds of the county’s voters in November 2020 calling for a drastic overhaul of county government by reducing the total compensation of county supervisors and limiting them to a single four-year term, must be implemented, the California Court of Appeal for the Fourth District has tentatively ruled.
It is widely anticipated that at a specially scheduled meeting scheduled for Monday, July 18, the board will call upon the county’s lawyers to appeal the state appellate court’s ruling to the California Supreme Court, a move which is likely to postpone the terms of the reform from being put into place for another 18 months while the state’s highest court first determines whether it will hear the matter and, if so, then makes a material finding with regard to the issues that are under dispute.
Meanwhile, the primary upshot of the ruling, barring an unlikely change of heart on the part of the appellate court, is that the members of the board of supervisors will see their total annual compensation reduced from what at present is approximately $270,000 to $60,000. Continue reading →