Tax Measures Defeated in Two O.C. Cities

In elections closely watched by leaders of cash-strapped Orange County cities, voters in San Clemente and Stanton on Tuesday overwhelmingly rejected measures that would have restored millions of dollars in taxes lost when an initiative was approved last year.

In San Clemente, voters turned down a new 2.5% utility tax by a final unofficial vote of 40% to 60%.

“I’m really overjoyed with the results,” said Tom Padberg, a city resident who had been outspoken against the utility tax. “There is a very strong sense in the community that the tax is not needed if the city management just wasted less money than they are currently.”

In Stanton, a final unofficial tally showed residents voted 71.5% to 28.5% against a tax that would have raised about $3 million for police and fire services.

“We’re going to have to do some adjustments to keep the city running, though we don’t know what yet,” Stanton Mayor Brian Donahue said Tuesday night. “The citizens will be hurt, because they are the ones who rely on services.”

Ray Maggi, who led a group that opposed the tax, said, “It’s a shame it came down to this. We hope the city will work with the business community to resolve” the problems.

Leaders of both cities placed the tax measures on Tuesday’s ballot after losing tax revenue following the passage of Proposition 218 last November.

Proposition 218, which was promoted by the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assn., requires that any new taxes and those imposed since January 1995 have the approval of a majority of voters.

In Orange County, a number of cities are bracing for drastic budget cuts caused by the loss of millions of dollars in property tax assessments.

Among the hardest hit, in addition to San Clemente and Stanton, are Irvine, La Palma, Yorba Linda, Garden Grove and Tustin, which all rely on special assessment districts formed after 1994 to pay for street lights as well as maintenance of parks, beaches and other public properties.

Some of these cities are following results of the Stanton and San Clemente elections with keen interest, because they also may soon have to ask voters to approve assessments called into question by Proposition 218.

In San Clemente, officials found themselves $2.8 million short for the $22.7-million 1997-1998 budget when Proposition 218 effectively outlawed the city’s Lighting and Landscape District. The assessments for beach, park and street-light maintenance had to be eliminated.

If the tax measure failed, the council planned to close the softball fields at Richard T. Steed Memorial Park, move local police dispatching to the Sheriff’s Department main dispatch center, increase fees at the municipal golf course and eliminate programs for at-risk youth, such as intramural sports and summer day camp.

“This is a pretty decisive message,” City Manager Mike Parness said Tuesday night. “I’m convinced the public knew what they were voting for. That’s the pretty clear message.”

Opponents of the tax said the City Council could have cut even more from the budget even more than it has by, for example, eliminating more management positions in city government.

In Stanton, some city officials squared off with owners of apartment units over Measure B, a public safety services fee that would raise about $3 million for police and fire services.

The measure was intended to offset projected losses from the expected invalidation of the city’s 5% utility tax and other assessment fees, along with increases in police and fire costs. But the Apartment Assn. of Orange County, the measure’s most vocal opponents, raised more than $24,000 to oppose the $16.88 fee. Apartment owners would pay the cost of the safety services fee.

Maggi, former president of the apartment owners association and a leader of Measure B opposition, said most landlords could not raise rents in Stanton to make up for the cost of the fee.

Councilman David John Shawver said Measure B’s failure would require the city to cut police services by a third.

“Seventy-five cents of every dollar we spend goes to police and fire services,” Shawver said. “Hopefully, people will remember what the crime rate was like in Stanton before we got the situation under control.”