Canyon Committee Wary of Opponents : Opposition: The Taxpayer’s Assn. is trying to garner support to prevent passage of a $20-million bond measure.

The campaign manager for the Committee to Save the Canyon is taking nothing for granted these days.

Never mind the informal telephone survey at the end of the week suggesting that two-thirds of Laguna Beach voters favor an upcoming $20-million bond measure, which, if passed, would go toward the $78-million purchase of Laguna Canyon land proposed for development by the Irvine Co.

And never mind that the campaign has also been buoyed by hundreds of citizens who have joined the effort to block development in the pristine canyon, or by the successful fund-raisers that have the committee well on its way to raising its goal of $50,000 for its war chest.

Instead, campaign manager Paul Freeman is watching--and answering--advertisements that have been placed in local weekly newspapers by the only organized opponents of the bond measure, the Laguna Beach Taxpayer’s Assn.

He knows it is harder to get the required two-thirds margin on Election Day, Nov. 6, than it is for opponents to muster “no” votes from one-third of the electorate.

“They have raised some questions for which there are answers,” Freeman said. “People ask, ‘What about this or that?’ Unfortunately, they have some misinformation in their hands.”

But newly elected Taxpayer’s Assn. President Jack Hefti said his group wants voters not to be swayed by the emotional appeal of preserving the canyon, but to think about the interest on the bonds and other costs that are not included in the often-quoted purchase price.

According to the Taxpayer’s Assn., those added costs will raise the $78-million purchase to $105 million over five years. The estimate has drawn Freeman’s ire.

The proposed buyout agreement--negotiated by city officials, environmentalists and Irvine Co.--calls for the city to contribute $20 million from the bond issue, which would raise property taxes by 6 1/2 cents per $100 assessed valuation, and $5 million from a separate bond sale that would be backed by parking-meter revenues. The city also plans to turn over $4 million it has already received from a state park fund.

Hefti said his $105-million estimate takes into account the base cost of $78 million plus $17 million interest on the $20-million bond issue. He also adds $3 million in interest payments that would be due from the second bond issue, and an extra $8-million fee calculated from a formula based on the consumer price index.

Like the Committee to Save the Canyon, the tax watchdogs also are appealing to emotion, reminding voters of the frustration they have felt over the years as they have pushed for basic city service improvements, only to be told by city officials there was not enough money.

“It’s sort of a ‘trust me, we will handle this thing properly, don’t worry.’ As far as I’m concerned, we should worry,” Taypayer’s Assn. Vice President Art Casebeer said during their meeting Saturday.