Environmental, Civic Groups Oppose Sales Tax Increase : Roads: Supporters of the half-cent proposal to help pay for highway improvements say it will lure matching state funds.

A Ventura County environmental group and a newly formed community organization are working to defeat a ballot measure that would raise the local sales tax half a cent to help pay for road construction projects.

The proposed county tax increase, known as Measure A, was approved last month by the Board of Supervisors following statewide approval of Proposition 111, which also raises the gasoline tax throughout the state for road improvements.

County officials say the proposed county increase is necessary to obtain all the state road construction funds available to the county under Proposition 111.

A rebuttal to the county ballot proposal was filed this week by the Environmental Coalition of Ventura County, said Jenny Harrison, an official of the elections division of the county clerk’s office.

Neil Moyer, president of the coalition and author of the argument against Measure A, said the measure does not specifically identify what road projects will be paid for with the tax money and how much each one will cost.

Moyer said the proposed tax increase also does not spell out the effects that road improvements will have on traffic.

Moreover, Moyer said his group is concerned that widening some of the county’s major roadways will only serve to promote more growth.

“Measure A is designed to help open up new areas for development while passing the costs for future road improvements on to you, the taxpayer,” Moyer wrote in his ballot argument. “Why subsidize developers when you’ll be affected by their increased traffic and pollution?”

Bill Charbonneau, Caltrans deputy district director of Ventura County road projects, said freeways and highways are built and widened based on population projections in the county.

“We don’t see freeways as promoting growth per se,” Charbonneau said. “We build freeways to handle traffic. With or without a freeway, there’s going to be development.”

Charbonneau said that while Measure A may not list specific projects that would be funded, in part, by the increased sales tax, the county does have a list of high priority projects that would benefit from the additional funds.

Some of those projects include the joining of the Simi Valley and Moorpark freeways, estimated to cost $50 million; the widening of the Saticoy bridge at a cost of $15.7 million; and the widening of California 126 from Fillmore to the Los Angeles County line at a cost of $27.3 million.

Steve Frank, head of the recently formed Committee for Better Transportation, based in Simi Valley, said his group also opposes the increased sales tax. He said taxpayers were led to believe that Proposition 111 funds would be adequate to pay for county road construction and maintenance.

“They did not tell us that to make full use of Proposition 111 funds, that we would have to pass a half-cent sales tax,” Frank said.

Proposition 111, passed by voters in June, raised the state gas and diesel tax by 5 cents a gallon Aug. 1. The tax will then increase a penny every year for the next four years.

The gas tax is expected to generate $18.5 billion for statewide transportation projects over the next 10 years, with Ventura County receiving about $200 million for road construction.

But county transportation officials said about $2 billion of the tax money will be distributed to counties that can come up with matching funds. They said if voters were to approve the half-cent sales tax, Ventura County could receive another $130 million over the next 10 years.

“There’s no guarantee that if the half-cent sales tax is passed that we’ll get a dime from the state,” Frank said. “Right now, it’s just a politician’s promise, and we know what that’s worth.”

However, Robert Remen, executive director of the California Transportation Commission, said that under the state and local partnership program, counties that raise matching funds will receive additional Proposition 111 money.

“There is a guarantee that they will get money” if they have eligible projects submitted to the Transportation Commission, Remen said.

Frank, whose group includes about two dozen people from throughout Ventura County, said in the coming weeks that members will talk to community organizations about opposing the sales tax increase. He said the group also plans to take out newspaper ads to garner support.