Two-word error may cost Santa Clara, Calif. $548 million

Talk about going over your character limit.

City officials in Santa Clara, Calif. are scrambling to fix a two-word mistake in the upcoming November ballot that could cost the Silicon Valley city more than half-a-billion dollars.

The issue stems around wording for a measure that would allow the local water district to renew a $548 million tax to maintain the northern California city's water supply, provide flood protection and reduce toxins in waterways, the San Jose Mercury News reports.

But the summary for the proposed measure was 77 words. Summaries can only be 75 words according to election laws.

When informed of the mistake, the Santa Clara Valley Water? District quickly met and removed the words "as" and "No." (as in number.)? They approved the new language and sent the corrected summary to the election board.

Resolved?

Well, not exactly. Turns out the hastily called meeting to fix the problem was not publicized 24 hours before the board convened. California's open meeting laws require the notice. The board missed the deadline by less than an hour, the Mercury News reports.

Now the Silicon Valley Taxpayer Association has sent a letter to the district threatening a lawsuit unless the measure is pulled off the ballot.

"We believe it's a violation," John Roeder, president of the association of taxpayers told the Mercury News.

Linda LeZotte, chairwoman of the water district board, said it would be a shame if measure, which also would pay for trails and waterway restoration, would? killed over a two-word mistake.

"That would be devastating to the water district," LeZotte, told the Mercury News. "We were not changing the essence of the measure. We were removing two innocuous words that mistakenly put us over the word count. It was a minor technicality.

It's a minor technically that now may have a half-billion dollar? impact.

http://sfcitizen.com/blog/2012/08/21/americas-cup-confidential-team-korea-has-exactly-zero-koreans-on-it-how-does-that-make-any-sense/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=americas-cup-confidential-team-korea-has-exactly-zero-koreans-on-it-how-does-that-make-any-sense

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/two-word-error-may-cost-santa-clara-calif-161931547.html

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