Santa Clara County Vector Control District

This month, Santa Clara County property owners are being asked to approve an increased per-parcel assessment to fund the Vector Control District. The District is a small organization that engages in activities like mosquito and rodent control, and West Nile Virus prevention.

The Santa Clara County Civil Grand Jury evaluated the Vector Control District a few years ago and came back with a lot of complimentary things to say about how they are doing their job:

AN INQUIRY INTO THE VECTOR CONTROL DISTRICT...
(requires Adobe Reader. Google's HTML version of the Grand Jury report is here.)

Advocates of extremely minimal government often say that the only two legitimate functions of government are to provide a common military defense and a system of courts. I would add epidemic control to that list.

It's always heartening to hear about a government agency that's doing a good job, and we libertarians should readily give credit.