Cityhood Bid : Calabasas May Seek Own Revenue Study

Anxious to avoid a last-minute snag in their cityhood plans, Calabasas community leaders said Thursday they may hire a private budget analyst to guarantee the accuracy of an upcoming Los Angeles County study on the economic feasibility of the incorporation proposal.

Cityhood committee members said they fear the county financial study will not have up-to-date information on sales-tax revenues from within the proposed 30-square-mile municipality--particularly from two new auto dealerships.

If the county report shows that expected revenues would not cover anticipated municipal expenditures, incorporation will be denied by the county’s Local Agency Formation Commission, committee members said.

Trying for November Ballot

Both the commission and the county Board of Supervisors must approve cityhood before the committee can place the incorporation question before Calabasas voters. The committee hopes to have the cityhood question on the November ballot.

“We feel it will be a necessity to hire our own consultant,” said Doris LaViolette, a vice president of the cityhood committee. “We may have to bring together some figures on our own.”

Cityhood backers say they anticipate a revenue-estimating problem because county officials use a July-to-July fiscal calendar in calculating expenses and tax incomes.

Such an accounting procedure would exclude most taxes paid last year by a new-car dealership that opened in April, 1986. It would also exclude taxes that will be generated this year by a second dealership that will open in a few days.

The county procedure was defended Thursday by Michi Takahashi, administrative assistant for the Local Agency Formation Commission.

Study Called Fair

She said the county’s financial study, being coordinated by her office, will be fair because it will compare 1985-86 revenues with 1985-86 costs.

“We’d suggest they wait for our report,” Takahashi said. “The county departments are putting it together for us, and they won’t waste their time putting another one together for people from the outside.”

LaViolette said waiting may be unwise, however, if it turns out that the cityhood committee has to consider altering its incorporation plans if estimated costs outstrip estimated revenues. There may not be time to do that in time to qualify for the November election if budget problems catch the committee by surprise in late spring or early summer, she said.

As it is, the committee is “cutting it pretty fine” to meet all the deadlines for mandatory public hearings required before a November election can be scheduled.

Dealership Taxes ‘Essential’

Madeline Williamson, the committee’s recording secretary, said the incorporation boosters view the car dealership tax revenues as “very essential” to the proposed city’s economic viability.

“Car dealers will be more than important. The size of the city will almost hinge on them,” she said Thursday.

Lisa Gomez, business manager of one of the Calabasas dealerships, Morrie Sage’s Mitsubishi, said about 15% of all sales taxes generated by cars sold by her agency would go to the new city. Based on the sales pace set since last April’s dealership opening, Gomez projected the firm would pay a total of $840,000 in sales taxes this year. Approximately $129,000 of that would go to the city.

The second new-car dealership, Acura 101 West, is scheduled to open this week, “weather permitting,” according to a tape-recorded message on the dealership’s telephone.

Cityhood campaigners said they will hold a $15-per-person buffet dinner March 16 at Calabasas’ Sagebrush Cantina to raise money needed before a budget analyst can be hired. A similar dinner last fall raised $2,000. About $400 of that is left, committee leaders said.