The proposal allows all voters in Alameda County to impose their will on unincorporated areas, but there's sound reasoning behind it. Measure F raises the utility tax of these areas by one percent, but the revenue goes directly back to those communities.

The 5.5 percent tax on electricity, gas and telephone bills that these residents currently pay is set to expire in 2009. If Measure F passes, the tax will extend until 2021 at a rate of 6.5 percent and include cable television bills.

At the core of Measure F, those who have to pay will benefit from the raise. Important services in unincorporated areas, ranging from law enforcement to the maintenance of libraries, rely on income generated from this utility tax. In fact, it currently rakes in about $9 million annually and is predicted to bring in another $2 million with the plus one percent. Though the proposal has naturally sparked a miniature anti-tax revolt, note that a ballot measure suggesting the extension of the tax in 2000 was met by 57 percent approval from the unincorporated regions.

Measure F may seem to be unfair because most of those who vote on the policy will not be affected by it. It appears on the ballot for all of Alameda County to decide, but only those in the unincorporated areas will feel the effect. But under Proposition 218, a countywide vote is required to raise taxes by law.

And there's an explanation for allowing all voters to meddle in the affairs of certain areas, at least in this case: Without the utility tax, adequate funding for services in unincorporated regions would only be possible through cuts to other countywide expenditures. Measure F would relieve having to use the general fund to provide these services.

While the proposal does not explicitly require the utility tax revenue to be directly spent on unincorporated areas, local government deserves some of our faith. The County Board of Supervisors has been allocating all of the income back to their communities of origin ever since the tax was first established 15 years ago without having to be told to do so in writing and there's no foreseeable reason for them to act otherwise.

Help sustain the quality of services in all of Alameda County. Vote Yes on Measure F.