Transit Plans Get Tax Boost From Voters : Transportation: For the first time in 30 years, Orange County approves a local levy hike, Measure M. Los Angeles County also appears to have OKd a half-cent sales tax increase, Proposition C.

While voters generally rebelled against tax hikes, in Los Angeles and Orange counties they appeared to have narrowly approved a pair of sales tax increases that will raise $550 million more a year to fight traffic congestion in Southern California.

The money would be used to speed development of a five-county rail transit system, fund widening of freeways and construct exclusive bus transit ways, car and van-pool lanes between Los Angeles and Orange counties, officials said Wednesday.

“The congestion problems have become so bad, everybody has had it. They’re fed up,” said Neil Peterson, executive director of the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission. “This is a vote that recognizes the serious problem and . . . puts up money to improve the quality of life here.”

Opponents of the measures acknowledged that the vote signals a mandate from the public for improved traffic flow throughout the Los Angeles Basin.

“I think that the people were so desperate that they were willing to tax themselves for any solution to the traffic mess, good or bad,” said Tom Rogers, an Orange County rancher who chaired Citizens Against Unfair Taxation. He opposed Measure M, the half-cent sales tax hike that will raise approximately $150 million a year. Orange County’s new sales tax rate will be 6.5%

It was the third time in six years that Orange County voters had been asked to approve such a tax hike and the first time in three decades that any kind of local tax increase got a “yes” vote, officials said. The tally was 54.4% yes, 45.6% no.

The Los Angeles County vote was closer, with only 50.8% favoring the half-cent tax that will raise $400 million a year. With a “yes” margin of only 26,053 votes, the proposition’s passage was still in doubt late Wednesday because uncounted absentee ballots could tip the scales the other way. If approved, the county’s sales tax rate would be 7%, the limit allowed by state law.

A county registrar-recorder’s office spokeswoman said more than 100,000 absentee ballots remain uncounted and final results may not be known until Nov. 27.

However, transportation officials remained hopeful, Peterson said.

If the measure passes, as expected, it will mark the second time in a decade that the county’s voters have approved such an increase. Proposition C would bring the total sales tax dedicated to transit to one cent--raising $800 million a year.

Transit officials in Los Angeles and Orange counties said they plan to immediately begin work on priority projects, including several that will affect motorists who fight traffic on freeways linking the two counties.

Orange County will use $550 million of the new tax money to assist the state in widening Interstate 5, the Santa Ana Freeway, from 6 to 12 lanes between San Clemente and the 605 Freeway in Los Angeles County.

Another $200 million of the Orange County funds will be used over the next few years to widen the 91 Freeway and build car-pool lanes, according to Robin Leftwitch, a spokeswoman for the county. She said another $65 million will be spent upgrading commuter rail service from San Clemente to Los Angeles.

The Los Angeles County Transportation Commission has embarked on an ambitious plan to build a 300-mile rail network that will cost about $7.5 billion. In addition to the Los Angeles-Long Beach Blue Line, opened this summer, and the Metro Rail subway under construction, the plan calls for three more light rail lines and trains running from downtown Los Angeles to surrounding counties.

If the approval of Proposition C stands, Peterson said the transportation commission will be asked to:

* Expand the $1-billion Green Line trolley under construction in the center of the new Century Freeway. This line will run west from Norwalk along the freeway to the San Diego Freeway. An additional $215 million will be earmarked for the line’s extension north to Los Angeles International Airport by October, 1994.

* Start work immediately on the $688-million Pasadena Light Rail Line so trains can be running into Union Station in downtown Los Angeles by 1995, three years ahead of schedule.

* Accelerate planned commuter rail service to the San Fernando, San Gabriel and Santa Clarita valleys at a cost of more than $100 million to upgrade tracks, purchase new trains, install signals and build stations. Trains could be running within two years.

* Spend $100 million to unclog freeways and surface streets by creating corridors with computer-linked traffic signals and other high-tech remedies.

“Proposition C fills a critical funding gap and allows Los Angeles County to stop traffic gridlock, reduce air pollution and cut dependence on foreign oil,” Mayor Tom Bradley said at a news conference Wednesday. “I am delighted the measure passed.”

Opponents of the tax measure, led by Los Angeles County Supervisor Pete Schabarum, were surprised by the support it received. Ironically, Schabarum--who sat on the transportation commission--voted to put the measure on the ballot because he was certain it would be rejected.

“I wouldn’t have voted for it knowing what I know now,” Schabarum said.