Tax Break, Census Increase Will Ease Oxnard’s Cash Pinch

Financially beleaguered Oxnard will realize almost $1 million more each year after 1991 thanks to additional population reflected by the census and a new law that makes city-owned golf courses exempt from state property taxes.

City officials said Monday that they believe that the unexpected tax break and the additional revenue will make a dent in solving the city’s ongoing financial woes.

“I’ll take it, I’ll take it,” City Manager Vernon Hazen said.

However, he said the additional money will be too little, too late, to avoid a $4.8-million deficit projected for the next two years. The City Council has scheduled a public hearing today to discuss cost-cutting proposals and efforts to reorganize personnel to address the deficit.

Oxnard’s financial headaches are nothing new.

In 1989, budget problems forced the city to spend $2.8 million in emergency reserve funds and to eliminate 16 1/2 city positions to balance the budget. Last year, the city eliminated 18 1/2 positions and spent about $1.6 million in one-time-only revenue windfalls from investments to avoid a $2.8-million deficit.

Hazen, hired seven months ago to replace ousted City Manager David Mora, said he hopes that the discussions at today’s hearing will help officials find ways to operate the city more efficiently.

City officials learned last week that a law adopted by the California Legislature will save Oxnard $178,000 annually beginning next year.

The law, authored by state Sen. Leroy Greene (D-Carmichael), includes golf courses in the definition of government-owned properties that are exempt from state taxes.

The law reverses a decision by the State Board of Equalization, which last year decided that golf courses owned by government agencies could not be declared exempt from state property taxes.

In June, the City Council sent state lawmakers a letter urging them to sign Greene’s bill so that Oxnard could be exempt from paying taxes on the city-owned River Ridge Golf Course. The bill was signed into law in August.

State law exempts city halls, courthouses, administration buildings, parks, playgrounds and fire stations from state property taxes. A spokeswoman for Greene said the senator wrote the bill because his hometown of Sacramento is considering developing a golf course and would like it to be tax-exempt.

Oxnard received more good news on Friday, when final figures from the Census Bureau indicated that the city’s population growth should bring in an additional $770,000 in annual state funds over the previous year’s.

California cities receive vehicle fees, gas and cigarette taxes and other revenue in proportion to their population. Most of the money can be spent for general fund uses, such as salaries and equipment purchases, Hazen said.

The census showed that Oxnard’s population is 142,216--a 9.5% increase over the 1990 state Department of Finance estimate of 129,908. The finance department makes annual population estimates to determine how much state money should go to each city. Those estimates are adjusted to meet census figures.

“This is good news for the city inasmuch as it has been previously estimated that each 5% increase represents about $404,000 in additional annual revenue from the state,” according to a city report to Hazen from the Community Service Department.

However, Hazen said the additional funds will not arrive in Oxnard until late 1991 or early 1992. “That will still be a nice, significant change,” he said.

Oxnard city officials believe that a program carried out over 18 months is responsible for turning up more population than the finance department estimated. The program focused on counting residents that the census usually misses, such as working-class Latinos living in garages and families who live four or five to a house.

“We are happy with our relative success,” said Karl Lawson, an Oxnard community relations specialist who led the effort in which city employees handed out simplified one-page census registration forms on street corners through mid-October. The effort was financed by $58,000 in city funds.