Stanton Votes Tax Hike for Emergency Services

Voters in Stanton Tuesday approved their third permanent property tax increase since 1981 to pay for paramedic and ambulance service.

With only 11% of the city’s approximately 11,000 voters casting ballots, 69% voted for the property tax increase and 31% voted against it, Deputy City Clerk Cleo Hanson said.

Passage of the measure required approval of two-thirds of the vote. Out of 1,338 ballots cast, 896 were in favor and 402 were opposed.

The relatively light turnout probably had some effect on the outcome, said City Manager Kevin O’Rourke, because those who favored the issue worked hard to get supporters to the city’s 14 polling places. He had predicted a turnout of about 8%, noting that the election received very little publicity and August is a traditional vacation time.

Surprised at Turnout

However, Hanson said she was surprised at the higher-than-expected turnout, which more than doubled her prediction of 5%.

“I think it’s because the people in the (city’s) mobile home parks really support this,” Hanson said. Many of the mobile home park residents are elderly and retired.

“I’m very happy about it,” City Councilman Jim Hayes said. “I think this is a very strong sign that the people want the city to be able to provide them with these types of services and they want the city to continue to represent them.”

The tax will raise about $400,000 for services that cost the city $398,000 last year. The cost in 1982-83 was about $370,000. Stanton contracts with Garden Grove and Orange County for paramedics and operates its own ambulance service, for which residents are not charged.

Override to Continue

Property owners will pay the same override on their taxes as they have the last two years--$24 for each single-family home and apartment, $18 for each mobile home space, $300 for each acre of commercial or industrial property and $75 for each acre of vacant land.

Had the tax been defeated, the City Council would have had to decide how to continue the emergency services. Among the options, the city manager said, were monthly subscription fees such as those in effect in Fullerton, budget reductions and other taxes.

O’Rourke said he believes the city is making progress toward self-sufficiency. Proposed commercial redevelopments could enhance revenues in the small (3.2 square miles) city enough to make the tax unnecessary in the future, he said. A trash transfer station built two years ago provided Stanton with about $600,000 in 1984-85.

Note of Optimism

He admitted that the city was at a crucial point in 1981 but stressed that things are looking up. “We’re in a recovery period,” he said. “As redevelopment starts to take hold along Beach Boulevard, I think we’ll start to generate a good deal of sales tax revenue.”

The idea was first proposed in 1981, when voters narrowly approved a two-year tax to raise about $630,000 for police and paramedic services in the wake of Proposition 13. About 67% of the voters favored the measure, giving it the two-thirds approval required for passage.

When the measure expired in 1983, the voters reinstated it for another two years with 80% approval. The only difference was that funding for police wasn’t included the second time, when only paramedic and ambulance services were at issue.