TAXES : Supervisors Hesitate on Key Element of School Bill

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors balked Tuesday at endorsing the key provision of an agreement between builders and Santa Clarita Valley school officials on raising funds for new schools.

The board postponed taking a position on a bill sponsored by state Sen. Ed Davis (R-Santa Clarita) that would increase the state sales tax a quarter-cent per dollar to raise money for new schools. The bill also would make it easier to increase property taxes to build schools in fast-growing areas, such as the Santa Clarita Valley.

The bill was the centerpiece of an agreement that Santa Clarita officials and builders hammered out last month at the behest of Supervisor Mike Antonovich. The two sides, which rarely agree on anything, had met at an “educational summit” to seek solutions to the chronic overcrowding of the area’s schools.

Representatives of both sides urged the board last week to endorse the package.

But the board expressed reservations about supporting a tax increase.

After postponing the issue one week, the board endorsed the package on a 4-1 vote Tuesday, but withheld its support for the tax increase.

The board promised that it would take up the matter again after it had been reviewed by the county’s fiscal experts.

Richard Dixon, the county’s chief administrative officer, said the bill might be more acceptable after it is amended.

But Mark Matta, a field deputy for Davis, said the bill had already been amended and called the delay “a bunch of horse maneuvering.”

Davis has said that the bill’s chances of passage in the state Senate would increase if the conservative board endorsed it.

At Tuesday’s meeting, Supervisor Pete Schabarum said he was “shocked and chagrined” that he was being asked to support a tax increase.

J. Michael McGrath, superintendent of the Newhall School District, said he was not surprised that the board hesitated to endorse the education package.

“It’s frustrating,” he said. “The people who have real power and influence to deal with the problem just talk about it.”