ORANGE COUNTY PERSPECTIVE : How to Ease Taxing Traffic

Two members of the Orange County Board of Supervisors have their priorities straight. They support an effort to put an important transportation measure back on the ballot in November and clear off other revenue issues to give it the best chance possible of passing. One other supervisor is leaning in their direction, and we hope he joins them in a majority.

The measure, likely to be called Measure M, would increase the county’s sales taxes by half-a-cent for freeway and rail improvements. It failed 53% to 47% last November, short of the majority needed. But the vote indicated a growing support for a local tax to help alleviate the county’s serious traffic congestion problems. Hoping to play on that strength, Supervisors Thomas F. Riley and Don R. Roth said this week that they wanted another vote this fall. The transportation issue is so important that the board seems to agree that bond issues for sorely needed jail and court construction and open space purchases may have to wait.

While also agreeing that Measure M is vital, Supervisors Harriett M. Wieder and Roger R. Stanton want to wait until 1992 to put it back on the ballot. But that seems too long; congestion is uppermost on people’s minds. The swing vote appears to be Gaddi H. Vasquez, who favors Measure M but is not sure of the timing.

The board will decide Measure M’s fate on Aug. 7. Whenever it goes on the ballot, it faces an uphill battle.

Never has the county’s traffic been worse. The passage in June of two statewide propositions, 108 and 111, will pump added gas-tax money into some projects, but much of that comes only if matched locally. That puts Orange County at a disadvantage as the only urban county in the state without a sales tax designated for transportation. So, make the tough decisions and strike while the iron is hot.