Ferguson Backs Cable Operators in Battle Against Tax Increases

Assemblymen Gil Ferguson (R-Newport Beach) has taken up the cause of cable TV operators, calling on colleagues in the state Legislature to “move immediately to quash” industry tax increases imposed this year by Orange County Assessor Bradley L. Jacobs.

In a news release circulated Thursday by a public relations consultant for cable operators, Ferguson criticized Jacobs for “attempting to make an end run around Proposition 13.” On Wednesday, county officials criticized cable representatives for privately lobbying county supervisors in an attempt to enlist them in their campaign against Jacobs.

Outraged by recent tax increases of as much as 400%,

cable operators have launched an expensive campaign--running full-page newspaper advertisements and threatening to sue the county--over a new assessment method used this year by Jacobs. Orange County is one of several jurisdictions around the state to now take into account a cable operator’s intangible assets, such as the value of an exclusive franchise, in computing its tax bill.

Ferguson could not be reached for comment Thursday. But according to his statement, he will try to tack a rider on some pending bill that would prevent an assessor from applying such a method to cable operators and other businesses that have not been taxed this way in the past.

“It’s the consumer who subscribes to cable services who will actually end up paying for this gigantic tax increase,” Ferguson said in the statement. “Unless we act now, counties up and down the state will pounce on this, and the consumer will suffer a new form of taxation.”

Jacobs could not be reached for comment, but Deputy Assessor Ronald G. Cooper dismissed the criticism that his office is violating Proposition 13.

“If, in fact, what we’re doing is wrong under existing law, why is new legislation needed to stop it?” Cooper asked rhetorically. Cooper said the higher cable assessments simply reflect higher market values more accurately.

“When Orange County real estate that used to sell for $100,000 is selling at $250,000, the assessments are going to go up,” Cooper said. “When the market changes such that properties become two or three or four times more valuable, the assessments are going to go up.”

Cooper said earlier this week that Jacobs’ office has received about 50 letters that are overwhelmingly “anti-cable.” But on Thursday, Cooper refused to make the letters public.

Ferguson’s support of the cable operators “was something that caught us by surprise,” said Harvey Englander, a public relations consultant representing the cable firms. “Obviously, we’re extremely pleased.”

Englander said while he and other cable representatives have met individually with county supervisors over the past two weeks, no one in the Orange County group ever discussed the issue with Ferguson.

Englander said he received the written announcement from Ferguson’s office earlier this week and decided to circulate it Thursday, after two supervisors criticized the cable operators’ lobbying attempts.

In a series of private meetings over the past two weeks, cable industry officials told the supervisors they plan to sue Jacobs and urged them to question the assessor before entering what they predict will be a protracted legal battle that could prove costly to taxpayers.