Placentia : Voters Will Advise on Increase in Utility Tax

Residents have won their battle for a citywide advisory vote on a 2% utility tax increase, since the newly elected mayor switched his position on the issue.

Placentia voters in November will recommend whether the tax, which increased the typical customer’s bill by $3 in April, should be retained after Dec. 31, Deputy City Clerk Betty Wallis said.

The City Council Tuesday night voted (with Robert Kuznik opposing and Richard Buck abstaining) to place the issue on the ballot, Wallis said. Mayor George Ziegler voted with council members John Tynes and Arthur Newton, giving the proposal a majority.

Proponents of the ballot issue collected 3,419 voter signatures, of which 3,111 were validated. They had wanted a referendum on the utility tax increase, but City Atty. John Harper said the state Constitution excludes tax issues from the referendum process. The residents then asked the council to allow an advisory vote, which will be nonbinding.

Ina Gibbons, an organizer of the Right to Vote Committee, which led the petition drive, said Thursday that she was “happy that, at least, they’re putting it to a vote of the people.”

The higher utility tax, expected to generate about $541,000 for capital improvement projects in its first year, began at 5% in 1971, Wallis said. In 1980, the tax was lowered from 5% to 4%, and it was cut to 3% in 1981. City council members raised it back to 5% in February.

Another ballot issue for November is whether city elections should be established on even-numbered years and moved from April to November to coincide with other local, state and national elections, Wallis said. Placentia’s charter, unlike other cities’, requires that such a decision be made by the voters.