LOCAL ELECTIONS / BALLOT MEASURES : Fireworks Ban Takes Early Lead

Ballot measures that would ban fireworks in Westminster, provide a salary for Seal Beach City Council members and allocate millions of dollars to expand water facilities in South Orange County were all winning in early returns late Tuesday.

In Westminster, where officials were attempting to follow the lead of other Orange County communities in banning fireworks, an ordinance that would make it unlawful to sell or use fireworks within the city effective Aug. 1 was passing by a wide margin.

A Seal Beach ordinance that sought to compensate City Council members for time spent on city business was winning handily. Compensation under the ordinance would be set in accordance with state law as a salary not to exceed $300 per month.

And in south Laguna Beach and parts of Dana Point, voters of the South Coast Water District service area were overwhelmingly favoring Measure F, which would authorize the district to issue $8.5 million in bonds to finance construction of a new seven-mile pipeline.

The district’s existing pipeline is so outdated that it can carry only one-third of the water needed for a service area that includes 15,000 customers in the South County.

The district has been making do by borrowing water from neighboring districts, but officials have been served notice that the spigot from those sources will be shut off next year.

With California’s drought in its fourth year and no end in sight, district general manager Raymond Miller said, South Coast Water has no choice but to build an alternative pipeline.

Voters were not making a decision on the pipeline itself. Rather, they were being asked how to finance the project.

According to Miller and other Measure F proponents, floating a bond issue would be less expensive than raising water rates.

Under Measure F, property taxes would be raised to support the bond. For a homeowner whose property is valued at $300,000, for instance, about $9 per month would be added to 1991 tax bills. The amount would decrease each year, so that by the end of the 10th year, it would be about $6 per month.