Sacramento County executives tomorrow will urge the Board of Supervisors to reject a plan that would shift all of the county’s regional parks into an independent special district.

The proposal by the Grassroots Working Group, a coalition of parks advocates, was requested by county leaders themselves. It calls for a ballot measure in 2012 to create the new district and adopt a one-tenth of a percent sales tax increase to raise $17 million annually for county parks. It was developed after a year of study and a poll of likely voters.

In a staff report for tomorrow’s meeting, however, county officials say the proposal presents legal challenges, and instead want to spend 90 days researching other options.

The debate is fueled by deep budget cuts that have left the county with eight fulltime rangers to protect 32 parks, including the popular American River Parkway. The county also has about 6,000 acres of parkland that have never been opened to the public or have limited access.

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