LAKE SHERWOOD : Murdock Employee Is Again Only Voter

An employee of David H. Murdock’s Sherwood Country Club is the lone voter registered in a third attempt at creating a special tax district for Murdock’s development near Thousand Oaks, according to a county official.

Records identify the voter as Stephen P. McVey, 24, 115 Potrero Road.

The address is at Murdock’s 1,900-acre Sherwood Country Club and housing project, where the district would perform such services as maintain streets, sewers and the lake around which the development is centered.

Rich Wagner, the country club’s superintendent, said McVey is his second-ranking assistant. McVey did not return a reporter’s call.

Richard Terzian, a foreman at Murdock’s Arabian-horse ranch, was the only voter registered in two previous attempts at forming the special district.

The first election, in April, 1989, was declared invalid when Terzian failed to cast a ballot.

In the second election Jan. 9, Terzian voted to form the district but the county grand jury ruled that the election was illegal because he had moved off the site before voting. The district attorney’s office is investigating the possibility of voter fraud in that election.

The Board of Supervisors will be asked today to set a new election Oct. 23. The newly formed Lake Sherwood Community Services District would be authorized to levy $1.5 million in taxes for the first year.

The amount would automatically increase 3% every year and would be levied against Lake Sherwood’s 122 current homeowners as well as about 650 future owners.

The supervisors will also be asked to approve transferring the lake to a homeowners association that would later turn it over to the community services district.

District taxpayers would thus pay to maintain the lake, which Murdock had earlier promised to dedicate to residents of the area.

In addition, supervisors will be asked to approve subdividing part of Murdock’s property, creating 128 lots for the initial housing phase. Homes to be built at Lake Sherwood reportedly will cost from $1 million to $12 million each.