Orange County Elections : Voters Not Too Excited Over Tuesday’s Pocketbook Items

Want a $66 tax credit, or better streets and sidewalks? That’s the choice confronting Costa Mesa voters on Tuesday in the form of Measure C, the first bid in Orange County to override the Gann limit on government spending.

Want your water bill to increase 35% over the next two years to pay for needed pump station improvements, or should the city sell bonds that would be paid off with 6% to 8% rate increases through 1992? That’s a decision Anaheim residents will make Tuesday when they vote on Measure A, a proposal to sell $14 million in revenue bonds to modernize Anaheim’s aging water system.

Those are among the pocketbook issues facing voters in several municipal elections in Orange County on Tuesday--issues that have drawn little notice, despite just four days remaining before the polls open.

Some decisions, like Costa Mesa’s, will affect every property owner in the city. A few ballot measures will affect hamlets of a few hundred people.

In Tustin, voters will decide whether to annex a 60-acre, 182-home neighborhood coveted by forces that are considering a bid to incorporate as a new municipality north of the present city.

Residents from Three Arch Bay, a private, unincorporated community south of Laguna Beach, will vote on whether to sell $1.8 million in bonds for drainage repairs, at an annual cost of $325 per home to pay off the bond debt.

And in Newport Beach, voters will decide whether the residents of the 72-home Beacon Bay colony--who live on city-owned tidelands--can double the length of their 25-year leases, making it easier to obtain home-improvement and other types of loans.

The campaigns, pro and con, all have one thing in common: They barely exist, despite ample controversy.

Take Costa Mesa.

Except for a few newsletters distributed by homeowners’ associations and business owners, there hasn’t been much of a campaign for Measure C, which would override the city’s Gann spending limit.

And the opposition? A few letters to the editors of various newspapers, and a ballot statement signed by Councilman Dave Wheeler, who with Councilwoman Mary Hornbuckle voted against placing Measure C on the ballot.

Mayor Donn Hall said a few people have argued with him, saying he’s wrong to want to undermine something as sacred to conservatives as the Gann limit, but such people are then surprised to learn that the Gann initiative specifically allows for periodic increases in spending and for override elections.

The initiative, adopted in 1979, imposed a ceiling on new taxes state and local governments can spend. It ties budget growth to increasing population and to inflation.

“This is getting me in trouble with some of my supporters,” Hall conceded. “But I would remind them that I supported Gann and still think it’s a good thing. Many city officials said at the time (1979) that it was a terrible idea.”

More Than Can Be Spent

Increased tax revenues from home sales and South Coast Plaza gave the city $2.1 million more this year than it is allowed to spend under the Gann limit, which requires that the money be returned to property owners unless voters say otherwise.

The average value of a home in Costa Mesa is $150,000, according to city officials. Based on a rebate rate of $44 per $100,000 of assessed value, residential property owners would receive a credit of $66 on their 1988 property tax bills.

In his ballot statement against Measure C, Wheeler wrote: “Go ahead, reward yourself. . . . Take the money! Vote No! Think of it as compensation for the traffic and the bumpy roads.”

In an interview, Wheeler acknowledged that if Measure C is defeated, some owners of large, commercial properties would receive tax credit windfalls of $35,000 or more. But Wheeler, a staunch development foe, argued that Measure C’s provisions for street and sidewalk improvements are deceptive.

Wheeler predicted that the City Council would use the Measure C money for streets and sidewalks, but would then divert money that it was already planning to use for the improvements to other purposes.

But Wheeler acknowledged that there is no active campaign against Measure C.

“I’m a voice in the wilderness,” Wheeler said. “I expect it to pass, but I object to the way they (proponents) are selling it.”

In Anaheim, where the average residential water bill is $15.91 per month, City Utilities Manager Gordon Hoyt said the fate of Measure A, the city’s $14-million water revenue bond proposal, will depend on whether voters read their sample ballots.

“That’s the only place they’ll find any material on it, so I hope they read it,” he said.

Proceeds from the bond sales would pay for drilling two new wells, replacing old water pumps, pipes and valves, and improving water treatment facilities.

The City Council, which is sponsoring the measure, signed a ballot argument warning that the improvements are needed to prevent water shortages and that long-term bond financing splits the cost of the improvements between current rate payers and future customers.

No argument was filed against Measure A.

In Tustin, three annexation decisions were scheduled for Tuesday’s ballot, but a judge removed two when proponents of incorporation successfully argued that state law prohibits an annexation vote where more than 50% of the residents in the affected areas have signed petitions opposing such action.

Tustin Annexation

The remaining annexation issue, Measure L, involves a 182-home area about a mile northwest of the Tustin Civic Center, which has been under the jurisdiction of the county Board of Supervisors.

Both sides in the dispute have distributed flyers, written letters and attended many meetings, but as of Thursday, no large mailings, door-hangers or other traditional campaign tools had been employed in the battle.

Opponents did not submit a ballot argument against the annexation, but veteran county political activist Charlotte Mousel signed the ballot statement in favor, citing hope for improvement in delivery of emergency services at no added expense to residents in the area to be annexed by Tustin.

In Three Arch Bay, Measure P would authorize the local community services district to sell $1.8 million in bonds to upgrade storm drains that district president Calvin L. Nelson says are incapable of handling a bad rainy season.

Some people resent the cost, Nelson said, because there are some older widows living in the 500-home, seaside community on fixed incomes. However, nobody has campaigned against the measure, and no ballot statement was filed in opposition.

In Newport Beach, where Beacon Bay residents want longer leases from Newport Beach in order to qualify for home-improvement loans, Measure N faces no opposition. Although the measure would authorize the city to negotiate new 50-year leases with the residents at increased lease rates, it does not establish minimum or maximum rents.

“The measure only allows the city to negotiate with the residents,” City Atty. Robert Burnham said. “The increased rates would have to be worked out later.”

Under state law, income from the leases--some of which are just $300 a month--is considered tidelands revenue that must be used for coastal purposes, such as lifeguards and beach cleanup. Those programs are now underfunded, Burnham said.

Connie Sammis, a Beacon Bay resident, said Measure N is “the only measure I’ve ever heard of that everybody is for.” No ballot argument was filed in opposition to the measure.