Should the Proposed Santa Clarita Valley Road Tax be Approved? : AGAINST: GIDEON KANNER

John Machin, 34, is a labor relations specialist for an aerospace firm. He is co-chairman of Stop Mello-Roos Tax, which calls Measure P a misguided attempt to raise money to build roads. He lives in Valencia with his wife, Gale, and two daughters, Jennifer, 7, and Laura, 5.

Q. Why should voters oppose Measure P?

A. I oppose Measure P because it’s a tax increase, and I believe that government’s problems should be solved without raising taxes--particularly in the case of Measure P, because it doesn’t have any clear solution at all to the real problem.

I mean that the reason we have road congestion problems is because development was allowed to essentially run rampant in the valley for years through irresponsible planning, primarily on the part of the county. Because of that uncontrolled building without regard for infrastructure needs, we are faced with a traffic congestion problem. And I don’t see where anybody is making any inroads into solving that problem.

Q. Will Measure P promote more growth?

A. If you are a developer going before the county Regional Planning Commission, you are going to be able to point to the fact that there’s a large treasury of money available for road construction and say that your development is not going to be a burden on that infrastructure. So naturally it’s going to enhance their ability to get future building permits approved.

Q. Many people who now support Measure P became well-known for standing up to developers when Santa Clarita was incorporated two years ago. Do you believe they have sold out to developers in supporting the road tax?

A. I have to be honest with you. At the time the tax was proposed, I thought our City Council would never buy into such a scheme because of its stand against developers in the past. I was just absolutely stunned when I read that our City Council members were supporting it. So I think it’s a puzzling situation to me and one that I haven’t had a satisfactory answer to myself.

Q. If this measure fails, what kind of a message will that send to Los Angeles County and to the Santa Clarita City Council? A. In my opinion, the message is that the homeowners--the residents of Santa Clarita Valley--are not willing to pay higher taxes to bail out L.A. County, primarily developer-caused problems on our infrastructure.

Q. Are the opponents of Measure P essentially saying they are willing to put up with traffic rather than pay a tax increase?

A. I think what opponents of Measure P are saying primarily is that Measure P is not a good idea. But we do have people participating in our committee who I think would support a good tax increase.

Q. Do you believe that developers are financing the pro-Measure P campaign? A. In the last campaign spending report that came out, the executives of Newhall Land and Farming contributed substantially. Others with building interests or construction interests donated, such as businesses that supply flooring and other homeowner needs. The Board of Realtors has endorsed the tax. Obviously, more homes are a boom to the real-estate business.

Q. Is there confusion over what Measure P would do?

A. I think that there’s a great deal of confusion over the measure. It’s a complicated measure. It’s an extremely expensive measure in the sense that it’s raising hundreds of millions of dollars in not only principal but in debt service.

I don’t know that the proponents have ever given any kind of exact cost estimate on what kind of debt will accrue by authorizing Measure P. And that’s one of the scarier things about it, as far as I’m concerned. They say we need approximately $50 million to fix our roads now, but they are essentially asking us to authorize, at least in principal, almost four times that amount.

Q. Measure P would create a tax assessment district, known as a Mello-Roos district, that would be administered by a joint agency made up of Santa Clarita and county officials. Are there loopholes in the legislation allowing such a district?

A. Yes. The Mello-Roos document clearly states that road projects that may have been planned for can be substituted by other road projects. So there is certainly no guarantee--except taking the proponents’ word for it--that the roads they say will be built will indeed be built.

Another thing is that the body of people who will control the money by Measure P are not elected by the residents of the valley. We would then have to depend on representatives of the county and the city of Santa Clarita to appoint people to that financing authority.Q. If this tax is not the solution to the valley’s transportation problem, what is?

A. If you are asking me, “Do I have a solution that is equally quick-fix?” No, I don’t. The purpose of my getting involved in this is to say that Measure P is simply a bad idea. And because I don’t have a quick-fix solution should not be any reason for someone to vote for Measure P.

Background

* On Tuesday, voters in the Santa Clarita Valley will decide the fate of Measure P, a $285-million tax initiative to build and improve roads. If passed, the measure would create an assessment district, technically known as a Mello-Roos district, and add between $75 and $200 to annual property tax bills. Mello-Roos refers to state lawmakers who wrote legislation allowing the creation of such districts. The measure requires a two-thirds vote to pass.