Countywide : Panel to Decide On Jail-Tax-Vote Issue

When a newly activated law enforcement group gathers for the first time today, it will leap immediately into the breach: By the end of the meeting, the Orange County Regional Justice Facilities Commission will have decided whether county voters should go to the polls in May to consider a half-cent sales tax for jail construction.

Whatever the outcome, that meeting will end three weeks of frantic activity at the county Hall of Administration and in the corridors of city halls from Brea to San Clemente. And it will chart the county’s law enforcement efforts for months, perhaps years, to come.

“This has all been very extraordinary,” said Westminster Mayor Charles V. Smith, who chairs the City Selection Committee, the group that will touch off today’s meetings. “I’ve never run into a situation like this before.”

To the joy of some officials and the consternation of others, a rapid-fire series of events cleared the way for today’s sessions, but even now, several more issues remain. The result is a tightly scripted series of events on today’s itinerary:

* At 7:30 a.m., 29 mayors or their designees will gather in Tustin to name two representatives to the justice commission. At least eight candidates are vying for those spots--it takes 15 of the 29 votes to secure a membership--and it could take several ballots to settle the appointments.

* As soon as those two appointees are named, they will join Supervisors Harriett M. Wieder and Roger R. Stanton, who already have places on the commission. Those four members will then select a fifth, choosing from a field of eight more announced candidates.

* The appointment of the fifth member will round out the commission, which will then get to business. After a few procedural matters, the panel will take up the question of the sales tax referendum.

* By 5 p.m., the commission will have to notify the registrar of voters as to whether it has approved May 14 as a special election date.

On paper, the ballot measure is simple. The proposal states that: “This proposition authorizes the Orange County Regional Justice Facilities Commission to adopt a one-half of 1% sales tax solely for adult and juvenile detention facilities and courthouse facilities purposes and/or to issue bonds payable from the proceeds of that sales tax.”

Beneath the referendum itself, however, lurks a caldron of political questions, some about the timing of the referendum, others about the substance of it.

Some officials support the half-cent tax in the hope that it will pay for construction of a new jail in Gypsum Canyon, near Anaheim. Others, including many of the mayors, hope that revenue from the sales tax would allow the county to revoke its recently passed jail-booking fees--a politically and legally dubious proposition.

On the other side, some leaders are ideologically opposed to higher taxes or opposed to this particular one. Many county residents oppose the Gypsum Canyon jail proposal and worry that if the tax passes, the jail would be at the top of the commission’s list of projects to fund.

By day’s end, referendum proponents are confident that they will have a measure on the May 14 ballot. But even that would only close one chapter at the same time that it opens another.

“Nobody’s said we’re guaranteed to win on May 14,” said Sheriff Brad Gates, who supports building a jail in Gypsum Canyon. “We’ve got a very good opportunity, but it isn’t going to be easy.”

The sales tax in Orange County was 6 cents until state lawmakers added a quarter-cent to raise money for earthquake relief after the Oct. 17, 1989 Bay Area quake. County voters last November approved another half-cent (Measure M) levy for a 20-year transportation improvement program.

But the earthqake tax will expire before the Measure M tax goes in effect, so any half-cent addition approved for jail construction would make the total Orange County sales tax 7 cents.