Countywide : Anti-Tax Activists Consider Next Move

Members of a citizens group that successfully fought against a sales tax increase in June are contemplating what to do as an encore.

“We’re wondering where to go from here,” said Bill Ward, one of the leaders of the Committees of Correspondence, a loose association of more than a dozen community groups that has emerged as a player in the county’s bankruptcy recovery efforts.

At the Committees of Correspondence monthly meeting Wednesday, members will discuss the future with Ted Costa, a statewide anti-tax activist and expert in grass-roots movements. Costa was a leader in the campaign to pass Proposition 13 in 1978.

The group has been loudly critical of the way county officials have handled the bankruptcy. Members campaigned hard against Measure R, a proposal to help the county dig out of its financial crisis by increasing the sales tax from 7.75% to 8.25%. Voters overwhelmingly rejected the measure.

Some Committees of Correspondence members want to launch recall campaigns against county officials whom they consider responsible for the bankruptcy. But a recent survey of group members found relatively little interest in recalls, said Bill Mello, a Committees leader.

Instead, members want to focus their efforts on reforming county government and reducing taxes, the survey found.

Mello is now working on a study that compares wages and benefits earned by county workers with those in the private sector. Others are looking at reducing the county sales tax from 7.75% to 5%. The group meets Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Orange City Hall, 300 E. Chapman Ave.