ELECTIONS OXNARD : Utility Tax Fight Sparks Charges and Accusations

The campaign for a ballot measure that would impose a 5% utility tax on Oxnard residents has sparked accusations of deception and charges that developers are bankrolling the measure and have attempted to bribe a city councilwoman.

The utility users tax is designed to solve the city’s financial crisis and would raise $5 million annually. The tax would be added to telephone, cable, electric, gas and garbage collection fees and would cost the average household about $4 a month. Low-income residents would be exempt. Businesses would be taxed on water and sewage fees.

City Manager David Mora has warned that if Measure C is not approved by a majority of the voters, the city will have to make cuts in personnel, possibly including police and firefighters, to avoid a $2.7-million deficit.

Supporters say defeat of the measure June 5 could lead to the closure of a youth boxing center, a library and an art museum.

Bill Lewis, president of the Oxnard Peace Officers Assn., said during a debate on the issue Monday that the city’s police and fire departments are already understaffed and would be dealt a mortal blow if the city were forced to cut more positions.

“I wish we could just put the opponents of Measure C in a police car or on a fire rig for one night to let them see what is really going on,” the 12-year police veteran said.

Supporters of the tax include the Oxnard Peace Officers Assn., the Oxnard Firefighters Assn., Friends of the Library and the Oxnard Cultural and Fine Arts Commission.

The opponents, who include the Oxnard Chamber of Commerce and a group of residents and business owners who call themselves Oxnard Residents for Responsible Government, blame the city’s financial woes on mismanagement. They say the city should wait to decide if a tax is needed after a private firm completes an audit of the city’s spending, expected by the end of the month.

During the debate, Marc L. Charney, a lawyer and member of the Oxnard Chamber of Commerce, said supporters of the measure are trying to frighten voters into approving the tax.

Charney, a 23-year resident of Oxnard, said the measure does not require the city to use the tax revenues to preserve police and fire service levels.

“They call themselves Citizens for Public Safety and the reason they do that is to give the people the incorrect understanding . . . to fool the voters into thinking that the money raised by this utility tax will be used for police and fire services,” he said. “Over and over, they tell you that if you don’t pass the tax, we will take away your police and fire services.”

Supporters said revenues from the tax are not specifically designated for police and fire services because, under state law, the measure would require approval of two-thirds of the voters if proceeds from the tax were designated for a specific purpose.

In an interview Monday, Lewis said off-duty police and firefighters have begun a door-to-door campaign to try to persuade voters to approve the measure.

Lewis said he is not sure how much money Citizens for Public Safety has collected but said it is “in the thousands of dollars.”

On Monday, more than 100 people attended a $100-per-person cocktail party at the Tower Club to raise money for the measure, said Mona Broyles, co-chairwoman of Citizens for Public Safety.

Charney said Oxnard Residents for Responsible Government has collected no money but is planning to take up a collection to pay for a mailer.

Councilwoman Ann Johs last week accused a developer of offering to employ the Dolphin Group, a Westwood public relations firm, to assist in approving the tax in exchange for her support of a controversial building project.

The offer by Warmington Homes of Orange County, which Johs described as a bribe, was made during an April 2 meeting to discuss a 77-acre development proposed for the northeast corner of Oxnard Boulevard and Gonzales Road, she said. The Dolphin Group represents Warmington, as well as many other Orange County development companies.

Johs said she abruptly got up and left the meeting after the offer. She said she does not remember the name of the Warmington representative who made it.

However, company representatives deny that the tax measure was discussed during the meeting.

Councilwoman Geraldine (Gerry) Furr, who attended the meeting with Johs, said Tuesday that she does not remember hearing Warmington representatives discuss the utility tax.

“I don’t know what that is all about, and that’s about all I have to say,” she said.

The Warmington project, which would include 132 single-family houses, 154 condominiums and a 4 1/2-acre office complex, received tentative approval from the City Council last week. The council voted 3 to 2 to amend the city’s General Plan so that the project could move forward. But the council postponed a final decision pending further review by the Planning Commission.

Johs and Furr voted against the amendment, saying they believe that the office complex would create too much traffic for the neighborhood.

During Monday night’s debate, Charney questioned the motives of “out-of-town developers” who support and help fund the pro-tax group.

He said the citizens group is financially supported by developers. “And I use the term citizens group very lightly because . . . lots of them are from outside the city.”

Citizens for Public Safety representatives acknowledge that they receive some support from developers. But they say the majority of support comes from city employees such as police and firefighters.

“Developers didn’t come to us; we went to them,” Lewis said. “They are just one of many groups supporting the measure. I don’t see what they are getting out of it. I don’t see how they can financially gain out of it.”

Jack Gilbert, chairman of TOLD Corp., which has developed more than 100 businesses in the city, said he supports the group because he does not want the city to cut police and fire services. The Oxnard resident said such a cut could endanger the safety and stability of his businesses.

A cut in police and fire services could also prompt insurance companies to increase rates for many of his developments, he said. “It hasn’t happened, but it could happen,” he said.

Campaign manager Terry Dempsey was hired by Citizens for Public Safety at the recommendation of Fred Karger, vice president of the Dolphin Group.

In an interview Monday, Dempsey, who has worked as a paralegal in Los Angeles and as an aide to 1988 presidential candidate Alexander Haig, said he worked as a campaign consultant with the Dolphin Group about a year ago in Washington on several state and local issues that concerned developers.

He said Karger referred him to the group because he has the same concerns about public safety as do Gilbert and other developers who have built in the city.

Broyles, who is chairwoman of the Oxnard Cultural and Fine Arts Commission, said she welcomes the developers’ support. “Why should it bother me?” she asked. “I want anybody who wants to get involved.”

She said developers are no more influential in the campaign than the police and firefighters associations.