Officials Lash Out at State’s Tax Vote Plan : Government: Gov. Wilson’s proposal is not likely to be passed if put on the county’s ballot, some supervisors say.

Ventura County leaders, who have urged Gov. Pete Wilson to extend a half-cent sales tax, sharply criticized his plan to shift the political heat by forcing them to ask voters for a sales tax hike in a November special election.

Although the county desperately needs the money, county supervisors said Thursday they would be reluctant to put such a measure on the ballot at a time when taxpayers are already enraged by proposed new taxes for everything from fire protection to mosquito abatement.

And just hours after Wilson’s announcement, Ventura County Fire Department brass caught another whiff of the growing statewide tax revolt as Simi Valley residents ripped them for proposing an average $110-per-parcel annual tax to make up for Wilson’s proposed cuts in local funding.

“How much taxes do you think we can stand?” said Renita D’Amico, 41, of Simi Valley, one of about 100 residents who sat through the first of seven community meetings that fire officials have scheduled around the county. “We can only give you so much of whatever we have. If this keeps up we may be on welfare soon ourselves.”

In unveiling his plan at a press conference in Los Angeles Thursday, Wilson said that the sales-tax election would allow each of California’s 58 counties to propose an additional half-cent tax increase so that the combined one-cent tax increase could raise $2.8 billion a year for local governments around the state.

That money would plug the $2.6-billion gap in local government funding by the governor’s proposal to take that amount in property tax revenue for spending on schools statewide.

Wilson said, “We’re going to give the power to the people to make the choice.”

But Supervisor Maria VanderKolk said she will vote against putting the half-cent sales tax on the Nov. 2 ballot.

“If you take it to the voters, it doesn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of passing anyway,” VanderKolk said. She said Wilson’s ploy “puts the board in a terrible position.

“Let’s say we go ahead and have the election,” she said. “It looks like we want the tax increase. The whole way the state is going about balancing the budget is wrong. I just know from the telephone calls I’ve received, this is never going to pass.”

VanderKolk said she understands why Wilson is reluctant to carry the half-cent sales tax beyond its June 30 expiration date. “It’s suicide for him,” she said.

Supervisor John K. Flynn said of Wilson’s offer to let counties impose a sales tax on themselves: “I appreciate him doing that.”

However, he added, “I would not vote to put something like that on the ballot. The economy is in bad shape, and when the economy is in bad shape you don’t tax people like that.”

Supervisor Vicky Howard said she prefers that the state extend the half-cent sales tax rather than letting it lapse, adding, “I have one big concern right now, I just think the mood of the people is they would not pass a half-cent sales tax, and certainly not a one-cent sales tax.”

However, Supervisor Maggie Kildee said she would support putting Wilson’s tax plan to a vote.

“I’m sure the county will have to take him up on that,” Kildee said. “I don’t think the citizens of the county will be very excited about it”

Kildee said she believes voters would support Wilson continuing the sales tax after its June 30 expiration date. But she said, “He wants it to be the supervisors who take it to the people.”

Asked whether she resented Wilson passing the responsibility to her board, Kildee said, “No, it’s just the way it is.”

Wilson’s sales tax proposal comes at a time when Ventura County department heads who had relied on state funding are scraping their budgets down to the bone to keep services in place.

Assistant Fire Chief Robert Roper criticized Wilson, saying he should have planned better.

“Instead of developing these new funds after proposing cutting us to death, he should think about these things before he makes cuts,” Roper said in an interview before his presentation. “The way the Legislature works, it takes time to catch up. It’s kind of like nobody has a plan in Sacramento. They’re reacting instead of planning.”

Ventura County Fire Chief George Lund has said that unless the voters approve the parcel tax for fire protection, he will have to lay off up to 200 employees and close up to nine fire stations. Under the tax proposal, average houses face a $110 parcel tax. Larger estates and commercial properties would pay more.

Lund and other county officials tried to lay out a financial explanation for the fire tax, but were frequently interrupted by angry Simi Valley taxpayers.

“I’ve been out of work for a year and a half,” said Mike Moss, a 40-year-old Simi Valley construction worker. “You can’t keep taxing and taxing and taxing.”

Moss said that he could not afford to pay a tax that the fire district is referring to as an assessment.

“Well, maybe this is a good time to explain a benefit assessment,” Chief Lund replied.

“Hey, guys,” Moss jumped in. “I got no more to give.”

Jack Davis, 61, of Simi Valley, said that taxpayers have no objection to the Fire Department getting money it needs to continue operating smoothly. “It’s just that we are at the end of the rope with taxes that we have to pay at every corner, at every turn.”

Davis, a member of Ross Perot’s group, United We Stand, suggested that the Board of Supervisors cut the six-figure salaries of some department heads and use the money to support the fire protection.

Residents of the 136,000-parcel district have already barraged the county clerk’s office with angry protest letters that officials predict will top the 5% needed to force the tax proposal to a special election in June, 1994.

Roper said the district has not decided whether to tack its special assessment election onto Wilson’s Nov. 2 sales tax election.

Even if it could, the district still would have to wait until Aug. 1, 1994, to reap any income from the assessment--assuming the voters approve it, he said.

“In my personal opinion, if he was to say the half-cent sales tax was to go for emergency services for local agencies, I think the people would be much more willing to pay a users’ tax than a benefit assessment,” Roper added.

Assistant County Registrar Bruce Bradley predicted that protests would exceed the 50% mark, which would shoot down the assessment automatically. And even if it goes to a vote, it could cost $44,000 to add the measure to Wilson’s Nov. 2 ballot.

Of the fire tax, VanderKolk said she also opposes putting it to a vote, adding, “I think the people have clearly spoken. I’ll bet it gets a 30% protest. Just that alone tells me it’s pointless to put it on the ballot.”

Flynn said he would support the fire tax only if it is reduced to the realm of an average $65 per parcel per year, which the county then could show to legislators in Sacramento as a good faith offering to get more funding for county fire services.

Flynn said he has been pushing a salary cut for county department manageRs and wanTs thE Fire Department to streamline its operations. If those things don’t happen, Flynn said, he probably will not support the fire tax.

If the fire tax fails, some county officials have considered bolstering the fire department’s budget with money from the $450-million general fund. But half of the general fund is committed to expenses such as the sheriff’s protection of contract cities.

However, Kildee said, “Take it out of what? If I take $20 million out, some other department is going to get cut a whole lot more.”

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