County to Bill Schools Over Tax Collections : Budget: Supervisors override vehement protests by the districts. They blame state budget cuts for the fees, which total $3.4 million.

Despite warnings from school officials that students countywide may be hurt by their decision, the Board of Supervisors voted 4 to 1 Tuesday to charge school districts more than $3.4 million for collecting property taxes.

The fee structure is inequitable for agencies already hard hit by state budget cuts, said superintendents and officials representing eight school districts, the county superintendent of schools office, the Oxnard Federation of Teachers and the city of Camarillo.

“School districts are also in trouble the way the county is,” said Conejo Valley Unified Board President Dorothy Beaubien. “The money just isn’t there, and we don’t have it any more than you do. . . . Do not balance your budget at the expense of our children.”

Under a state law passed just before the Legislature adjourned, counties may assess fees on school districts, cities and special districts to cover the administrative costs of collecting property taxes. The bill was intended to help counties recoup some of the revenue lost in state budget cuts.

The fees will bring Ventura County an estimated $5.4 million, including the $3.4 million from schools, according to county estimates.

Supervisor James R. Dougherty voted against the measure. But other board members, some citing a vote two weeks ago to impose jail booking fees on cities, voted in favor of the measure with the understanding that school and county officials will meet in October to seek a better solution.

“Let’s do as we did with the other,” Supervisor Susan K. Lacey said. “I’ll go on record as saying I’ll rescind it if we find a better way.”

Chairwoman Madge L. Schaefer rebutted arguments that the board is insensitive to the needs of children. She cited several instances in which the county has replaced state funds cut from children’s programs, including money for foster care.

“The evil here isn’t us, and it’s not you,” Schaefer said.

Chief Administrative Officer Richard Wittenberg expressed sympathy for the financial plight of school districts, which received less money from the state than they had anticipated.

But Wittenberg said although the concerns of school officials “were very genuine and, in some ways, very accurate,” the county is in a financial bind of its own, with only $1 million in its contingency fund and no money in reserves.

“It’s very clear we’re having a severe problem, and we need to get revenue wherever we can,” Wittenberg said. The county is struggling to fund welfare and criminal justice programs and to continue providing health care to the working poor.

However, school officials argued that charging the fees placed an undue burden on schools.

“We’re both under-funded agencies,” county Superintendent of Schools James F. Cowan said. Cowan said many legislators were unaware of the fiscal impact on schools when the bill was passed.

Cowan urged the school districts to join with other districts statewide in seeking a solution to the problem through the courts. He said the new state law violates the state Education Code and is contrary to public education funding guaranteed under Proposition 98.

However, county officials said the new law supersedes any previous laws and makes the fees mandatory.

Ocean View Elementary School District Trustee Paul H. Chatman said although he understood the financial problems the county faces in “taking care of the working poor, we’re educating the children of the working poor.”

Chatman said the $37,551 fee for his district will exceed the district’s $30,000 reserve fund. “Frankly, I don’t know where we’re going to get $7,000,” he said.

Teacher Mike Turman of the Oxnard Federation of Teachers presented the board with a petition signed by 230 teachers opposed to the legislation.

Several school officials urged the board to delay a vote at least until January, when the law takes effect, and to seek some other resolution in the interim.

Dougherty also moved to delay a vote until next year. He argued that a delay would give school officials time to speak to legislators, “so that they stop this nonsense of pitting us against one another and mandating programs we can’t fund.”

Both school officials and board members expressed optimism that the meeting of county, school, city and special district officials, scheduled for Oct. 10, will be the first in a series that could bring about another solution to the problem.

“It’s dumb legislation and we shouldn’t be taking money from the schools,” Lacey said. “We’ll do it if we have to, but we want to figure out how to undo it by January.”

ESTIMATED FEES FOR PROPERTY TAX COLLECTION

Amount Average cost District Charged per student Briggs $6,903 $21.50 Conejo Valley Unified 621,956 36.81 Fillmore Unified 52,341 16.21 Hueneme 58,244 8.09 Mesa 13,146 39.00 Moorpark Unified 122,186 25.40 Mupu 2,722 24.52 Oak Park Unified 84,257 54.08 Ocean View 37,551 24.10 Ojai Unified 89,876 27.16 Oxnard Elementary 165,490 13.95 Oxnard Union High 361,059 35.00 Pleasant Valley 162,704 26.44 Rio Elementary 41,348 16.41 Santa Clara Elementary 1,654 59.01 Santa Paula Elementary 34,007 10.76 Santa Paula Union High 33,973 27.91 Simi Valley Unified 347,626 19.59 Somis Union 13,998 44.44 Ventura Unified 518,951 35.30 Ventura County Community College District 458,652 27.32 Ventura County Superintendent of Schools 152,188 98.57 COUNTYWIDE TOTAL $3,380,832