LAGUNA HILLS/LAKE FOREST : Voter Sign-Ups Help Build Tax Revenue

Voter registration drives by Laguna Hills and Lake Forest since the March incorporation elections have yielded 1,691 new qualified voters, which will generate about $2 million in additional tax revenue for the two cities over the next eight years.

A state formula relies on a city’s population to calculate the share of revenue a city receives from state gas and cigarette taxes, and motor vehicle registration fees. Because census data is not available for new cities, their populations are estimated at three times the number of registered voters within their boundaries.

Officials of the new cities have estimated that each new registered voter will add $150 a year for eight years to their coffers.

In Lake Forest, the voter registration drive began in July, said Dan Miller, who has served as a consultant and interim manager for the community during its transition to cityhood.

Miller said Lake Forest paid a professional crew $3 for each registered voter, increasing the fee to $4 in the last month “to make the final push.” Registration tables were placed outside supermarkets, he said, and in the past month the campaign also went door to door.

In Laguna Hills, canvassers have been going door to door since Oct. 25, concentrating on apartments and new housing tracts in the southern part of the community, where officials said they were more likely to find unregistered newcomers. Canvassers, who were paid $2 for each qualified registrant, also spent a day at Laguna Hills High School, where 170 seniors registered to vote for the first time.

As of Thursday, Laguna Hills had 10,839 registered voters, up from 10,436 in March, according to the Orange County registrar of voters office. Lake Forest had 27,606 registered voters, up from 26,318 at the time of its March incorporation election.