LA PALMA : City Services Could Hinge on Tax Vote

Voters in this small bedroom community could face a difficult choice Nov. 7: approve higher taxes or feel cuts in such basic community services as police protection and recreation programs.

Ballot Measure Q, a 4% tax on utilities, would raise revenue for the city’s general fund, the Police and Recreation departments, and other city departments.

“The general fund has suffered continually (since Proposition 13),” City Manager Paul Bussey said, citing cuts in property taxes that significantly reduced the major source of income for La Palma and similar communities that do not have large business communities to contribute to the tax base.

Despite the income from the city’s new Centerpointe development, La Palma’s sales tax income is still lowest in the county.

“This is happening to a lot of bedroom communities. . . . Fortunately, we’re better off than some others,” Mayor Orbrey Duke said. “We can afford this tax.”

La Palma has the fourth-highest per capita family income of any city in Orange County, yet due to a low housing turnover rate, has below-average property taxes, and its general fund revenue per capita is also below the county average.

“People expect property taxes to pay for everything, but they pay for just over half of the Police Department,” said Carl Eriksen, who heads a citizen-based committee in support of Measure Q.

Although the amount of the proposed tax is small, estimated at about $8 per household per month, city officials said they fear voters will reject the measure simply because they oppose any taxation.

“If the voters reject the nominal expense, they’d better be prepared to instruct the council where they want cuts to go,” Eriksen said.

He said cuts would likely be in personnel and salary, which consume 70 to 80% of the general fund resources. If the city were to cut $200,000 in salaries, he said, it would lose six people, or 10% of the city staff.

Also in jeopardy would be the community’s drug awareness program and various youth and senior programs. Duke also said the city has no reserves for emergency relief in case of a disaster similar to the earthquake that struck the San Francisco Bay area last week.

The greatest opposition to Measure Q comes from Copley Colony Cablevision, whose services would be taxed along with telephone, gas and electricity.

“We feel it’s unfair to consider us a utility,” said Pete Eliason, general manager of Copley Colony Cablevision.

He said the tax would be discriminatory, requiring cable television users to pay higher taxes than other citizens, thus supporting a larger part of the deficit.

Despite the opposition, city officials predicted that the measure will pass.

“Most people are responsive. . . . They want to keep what we have. Hopefully, we’re not deluding ourselves,” Councilman Keith Nelson said.