2 Camps of ‘Just Folks’ Battle Over Santa Clarita Tax

Both backers and opponents of a tax initiative that would raise $275 million to build and improve roads in the rapidly growing Santa Clarita Valley are billing themselves as concerned citizens working to benefit the community.

Each camp insists that it has grass-roots origins and that it is not tied to special interests, especially developers. Each also insists that it is made up of, well, just folks.

“It’s run by a group of homeowners,” John Machin said of the group opposing the tax, which he heads. Machin, a Valencia resident who said he has never been involved in politics, said his colleagues in the group, which calls itself SMRT, also lack political experience. “We sort of learn as we go,” he said.

The only SMRT member with political experience is Kenneth Dean, a failed City Council candidate who finished 20th in a field of 26 two years ago.

Meanwhile, the Roads Now Committee reminds voters that its members include many of the well-known civic leaders who spearheaded Santa Clarita’s successful incorporation drive two years ago. “It’s the same crowd of folks, basically,” said J. J. O’Brien, a committee member and retired California Highway Patrol officer.

Measure P, the road tax initiative, is to be decided in the Nov. 7 election. It would add between $75 and $200 to annual property tax bills, depending on the square footage of a residence. Commercial and industrial property would be charged 7 1/2 cents per square foot. The assessments would first appear on 1990-91 property tax bills.

The measure would create a giant tax assessment district, known as a Mello-Roos district, covering Santa Clarita and most of the unincorporated valley. SMRT is an acronym for Stop the Mello-Roos Tax.

Under the measure, which must be approved by two-thirds of the voters, residents over 65 years old and those in the rural community of Val Verde would be exempted from the tax.

The taxes would be administered by a joint agency made up of city of Santa Clarita and Los Angeles County officials. The taxes would be used to issue bonds to build or improve roads in the valley.

With the election slightly more than three weeks away, the Roads Now Committee and SMRT are waging vigorous campaigns to attract the valley’s 68,000 registered voters.

Both sides agree that SMRT has the easier task. It is appealing to the public’s dislike of taxes and maintains that roads built with Measure P funds will spawn more development in the burgeoning valley. The measure would encourage the city and county to propose further tax measures, the group says.

SMRT also reminds voters that cityhood supporters, many of whom are on the Roads Now Committee, promised two years ago that incorporation would not spawn more taxes, Machin said.

So far, SMRT members have walked precincts, handed out flyers and addressed community groups, Machin said. On Saturday, volunteers began distributing more than 20,000 flyers, he said.

SMRT has collected only one prominent endorsement so far, that of Baxter Ward. A former county supervisor, Ward is a political rival of County Supervisor Mike Antonovich, whom valley residents blame for the region’s rapid growth because of his pro-development policies.

Unlike the Roads Now Committee, SMRT does not have enough money to hire a political consultant, Machin said. “It’s nickel-and-dime stuff,” he said of the group’s fund raising.

By comparison, the Roads Now Committee last month filed campaign reports showing more than $25,000 in contributions. SMRT did not file a report, saying it had only collected about $300.

By law, campaign committees must file reports only after they spend or collect more than $1,000. Machin said his group probably will have enough money to file a financial statement when the next campaign reports are due this month.

But regardless of how much money SMRT raises, he said, it will win voter support by hammering away at the contributions collected by the Roads Now Committee.

“We stress that, obviously, the developers have very much to gain by the tax passing,” Machin said.

A few developers have contributed to the Roads Now Committee, including four executives with Newhall Land and Farming Co., the valley’s largest developer, who gave a combined $1,600. But many of the committee’s contributors are contractors, whom Machin said stand to make money if Measure P passes.

For example, Salazar Grading of Sylmar contributed $1,000, J. D. Plumbing of Pacoima contributed $250 and Blacktop Materials Co. of Sun Valley $100.

Proponents of the tax measure realize the danger of being tagged with the developer label. Many members of the Roads Now Committee criticized developers when fighting for cityhood. They rallied public support by blaming the valley’s woes on indifferent developers and inefficient county government.

Opponents of incorporation fought back with a last-minute surge of mailers. But cityhood forces revealed that the mailers were bankrolled largely by contractors and builders, and many believe that that information contributed to the overwhelming support for incorporation in the Nov. 3, 1987, election. The cityhood measure passed by a 2-to-1 margin--14,416 votes to 6,474.

After the election, cityhood proponents were hailed for their victory over the building industry.

The Roads Now Committee has strong endorsements from Mayor Jan Heidt, council member and former Mayor Howard P. (Buck) McKeon, the Santa Clarita Valley and Canyon Country chambers of commerce, Assemblywoman Cathie Wright (R-Simi Valley) and locally popular state Sen. Ed Davis (R-Valencia).

Measure P also has the backing of the Automobile Club of Southern California and the 2,500-member Los Angeles County Firefighters Assn., which says the valley’s chronic bottlenecks waste precious seconds when firefighters respond to emergencies.

Mark Thompson, a political consultant hired by the Roads Now Committee, said the committee will continue to raise the public safety issue in its campaign. More than 100 firefighters have agreed to walk door-to-door to explain the initiative, he said.

The committee plans to do little, if any, newspaper advertising and will instead spend money on flyers and mailers, Thompson said. About 23,000 mailers were sent to voters Friday, he said.

“I think what you’ll see is a broadening of a grass-roots effort,” Thompson said. The Roads Now Committee will try to assure the public that ordinary citizens support the tax, despite the contributions from developers.

O’Brien conceded that passing a tax is never easy. But while tax opponents will play on people’s emotions, he said, the Roads Now Committee will try to plead its case with simple facts.

Defeating Measure P will do nothing to thwart rapid growth in the valley, O’Brien argued. Thousands of new homes have already been approved by the county and, without Measure P, these developments will make traffic even worse, he said.

Although cityhood proponents pledged not to raise taxes, incorporation did not create Measure P, O’Brien said. The valley’s rapid growth and the poor planning of county officials left Santa Clarita with an inefficient highway system that cannot handle today’s traffic, he said.

The tax won’t correct mistakes by the new city, O’Brien said. “It’s to make up for past sins.”