ELECTIONS BALLOT MEASURES : Sales Tax Increase Could Generate Extra $130 Million for Roads

Ventura County on Nov. 6 will decide how quickly road improvements are made during the next 20 years, when the region’s population is expected to grow by another 200,000.

State and county transportation officials said Ventura County could receive an additional $130 million for road construction and repair if voters approve Measure A. The ballot initiative would raise the local sales tax one-half cent for the next 20 years to help pay for such projects.

Measure A will be the only countywide ballot measure facing voters next month. However, a number of local issues--including a bond measure to raise money for new schools and a tax increase to help pay for library services--will be on the ballots in Moorpark, Fillmore, Piru and Santa Paula.

County transportation officials say the new sales tax is necessary for the county to receive all the funds that are available under Proposition 111, approved by state voters in June. That law raised the state gasoline and diesel tax by 5 cents a gallon Aug. 1. The tax will increase a penny a year for the next four years.

With the passage of Proposition 111, the county is expected to receive $320 million worth of funding for transportation projects during the next 20 years.

But if voters approve Measure A, county officials said, Ventura County could receive another $130 million, because a large portion of the gas tax money will be distributed only to counties that can come up with matching funds.

In addition, officials said, the half-cent sales tax would raise about $500 million locally over the next 20 years, bringing the total amount of transportation funding the county could receive to about $950 million.

Mary Travis, project manager for the Ventura County Transportation Commission, said an estimated $1.3 billion is needed for projects countywide.

Travis said 17 counties in the state, including Los Angeles and Santa Barbara counties, already have similar measures in place.

However, she acknowledged that Ventura County voters might be reluctant to support Measure A on the heels of Proposition 111. She also cited the slowdown of the economy.

But if Measure A fails, Travis said, Ventura County voters will still be pumping money into counties that already have similar laws, while delaying local transportation projects.

Travis said 60% of the funds generated by the increased sales tax would be earmarked for countywide projects, including the widening and repair of freeways and major roadways between cities, as well as the creation of commuter rail service between Moorpark and downtown Los Angeles.

She said the commuter rail line, which would use existing rail lines and would eventually extend to Santa Barbara, could be in operation as early as next spring. Other transportation planners, however, anticipate service beginning in September or October, 1992.

The remaining 40% of the sales tax money would be used to pay for repairs and maintenance of streets in cities and unincorporated county areas such as Oak Park.

Representatives of the Environmental Coalition of Ventura County, which has filed a rebuttal of Measure A, said it does not identify which road projects will be funded with the sales tax money. They said the measure also does not spell out the effects road improvements will have on traffic.

Neil Moyer, president of the coalition and the rebuttal’s author, said he is also concerned that if the initiative passes and some of the major roads in the county are widened, it will promote growth. Moyer said residents should not be asked to subsidize transportation improvements on behalf of developers.

Travis disagreed, saying, “We can’t hold developers responsible for fixing congestion we have now. This isn’t a handout to developers in any way, shape or form. This is to fix problems that we have right now.”

In addition, Bill Charbonneau, Caltrans’ district director for Ventura County, said freeways and highways are built and widened based on future population projections in the county. The county’s population is expected to grow from 668,741 in 1990 to 893,770 by the year 2010.

Travis said that while Measure A does not list specific projects that would be funded by the increased sales tax, the county does have a list of priorities that would benefit from the additional funds.

Some of those priority projects include the widening of the Saticoy Bridge at an estimated cost of $15.7 million; the widening of California 126 to four lanes from Fillmore to the Los Angeles County line at about $27.3 million; and the widening of California 111 to four lanes from Moorpark to Oxnard at an estimated cost of $40 million.

Meanwhile, Moorpark voters will consider Measure B, a $25.5-million bond measure to finance a new middle school and the expansion of Moorpark High School.

Carmela Vignocchi, assistant superintendent of business for the school district, said enrollment in the district in the last 10 years has increased from 2,000 students to 5,400, a 170% increase. She said the largest concentration of students is at the district’s middle school and high school, each of which has about 1,200 students.

Vignocchi said that although the district has identified about $48 million in needs, it hopes to generate additional funds from the sale of the former Moorpark High School property. A new high school opened in 1988.

The school site has been the subject of a two-year legal battle between the district and the city over how it should be developed.

The district wants high-density development to generate more revenue, but city officials contend that the downtown area where the school is located cannot handle a large increase in traffic.

Some city officials have suggested that, as an alternative to the bond measure, the old school site, now used as a continuation school, should be reopened as a regular high school or middle school.

But Vignocchi said that is not a viable solution because the school could only accommodate 300 students. She said the city’s high school alone is expected to increase its enrollment by as much as 800 students during the next five years.

Although there is no rebuttal to Measure B on the ballot, a banker has formed a grass-roots organization to fight its passage.

Dave Lorenzen, who passed out leaflets during matches at a windblown Moorpark soccer field Saturday, said he had an “alternative view.”

“I think the bond issue should be better defined,” he said. “I think the school district can come back with more creative alternatives, a smaller bond issue.” He also said the bond issue would cost homeowners more than the school district has said.

Moorpark voters also will vote on Measure C, which would create a special tax district to finance a city-based ambulance service. Residents and city officials have repeatedly complained of slow response time and inadequate care by Pruner Ambulance Co., which contracts with the county to provide service in Moorpark. The closest Pruner station is in an unincorporated area southwest of Simi Valley.

If Measure C is approved, the city could levy taxes to finance its own ambulance service, which could cost up to $870,000 a year to operate.

Moorpark property owners would be assessed about $80 in new taxes a year, while businesses could pay from $143 to more than $4,000 in new taxes.

Although they agree that improved emergency services are needed, city officials are divided over whether to support the ballot measure.

Councilman Paul Lawrason, one of the three candidates vying to become the city’s first popularly elected mayor, said he believes the ballot initiative is too costly. He said he would rather see the city work with Pruner and the county to establish an ambulance paramedic unit inside the city limits.

Council members Clint Harper and Eloise Brown, who wrote Measure C, said the county cannot afford to subsidize a new ambulance station in Moorpark. Harper and former Parks and Recreation Commissioner Tom Wheelerare competing with Lawrason for the mayor’s post.

In Santa Paula, voters will be asked to approve measures E and F, which together would authorize a special tax within the Santa Paula Union High School Public Library District. If approved, property owners within the district would be assessed an additional $10 a year for four years.

Measure E would limit the amount of money the district could collect under the new tax to $250,000 a year. Measure F sets the amount of the new tax at $10 per property owner.

Both measures must be approved in order for the special tax to become effective.

The new tax money would be used to increase operating hours and to buy new materials and equipment for Santa Paula’s Blanchard Community Library, which is run by the district.

The Blanchard Library is now open 22 hours a week, said Eugene Marzec, a district commissioner.

Marzec said the library now receives about $5 a year from each property owner, not enough to pay personnel and operating costs.

There is no formal opposition to the ballot measure. However, if it is not approved, Marzec said the district could either try to put the initiatives on the June, 1991, ballot or ask the county to take over operation of the library.

Voters in Fillmore and Piru will vote on Measure D, which would create a special tax to help pay for operating and maintaining the Veterans Memorial building in Fillmore. The building is part of the Veterans Memorial District, which includes both Fillmore and Piru.

If the measure is approved, property owners in the district will be assessed an additional $10 a year.

Jon Holley, who manages the memorial building for the district, said that in recent years, the 37-year-old facility has fallen into disrepair and that operations have been cut back from seven to four days a week.

He said the Fillmore Redevelopment Agency recently awarded the district a $50,000 grant to keep the building open, but that the money will probably run out in January.

Gerry Brailo Spencer contributed to this report.