Board Backs Tax Break for Some Senior Citizens : Finances: Home buyers over 55 would be able to keep the rates they paid while living in other counties. Officials hope the revenue loss would be offset by increased sales.

In an effort to jump-start Ventura County’s sputtering economy, the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday tentatively approved a proposal to allow senior citizens who buy houses locally to retain the low property taxes they had on homes in other counties.

Supervisors said they hope to compensate for the loss of about $390,000 in expected tax revenue by giving a boost to the slumping real estate and construction industries.

The author of the initiative, Supervisor Maggie Erickson Kildee, said the tax break for senior citizens would help all sectors of the county economy. “I feel that if we attract people into this county, it will help all of us. When the economy goes down, everybody gets hurt.”

Supervisor Vicky Howard, in supporting the motion, said senior citizens are a good group to target because they generally are not a burden on law enforcement or the school system.

Maria VanderKolk, whose supervisorial district includes Thousand Oaks--a bedroom community for many people who work in Los Angeles--said the proposal would complement a recent initiative by the federal government to provide incentives to first-time home buyers.

Supervisor John K. Flynn said he supported the proposal with some reservations, noting that it would not help “put milk on the table” of the low-income families that make up a large portion of his Oxnard-El Rio district.

Susan K. Lacey was the only supervisor to vote against the proposal, saying the county should first study the impact of the tax break on counties that have already adopted it to make sure that it helps the economy.

Forty-six of the state’s 58 counties have not adopted the tax break because of tight budgets, said Richard Wittenberg, Ventura County’s chief administrator.

Lacey said the county can ill afford to give away tax breaks in times of financial hardship without making sure that they are a sound investment.

“We have to make sure we don’t act too rapidly,” she said. “This board said we don’t want to cut off education programs, but I don’t know how many hits like this we can take before we impact our education budget.”

Last month, supervisors approved a 2% across-the-board budget cut to make up for a projected $7-million deficit over the next 17 months. The 1991-92 general fund budget is $436 million.

The ordinance that the board approved in concept Tuesday would allow new residents who are over 55 years old to transfer from other counties the low tax rates that were locked in by Proposition 13. Only those who purchase a home after the ordinance is adopted would be eligible.

Staff members were instructed to write the ordinance and present it to the board for final approval.

Proposition 13, the 1978 property tax-cutting initiative, reduced taxable values of real estate to 1975 levels. If a home is later sold, rates are locked in at the levels in effect at that time.

The tax rate transfers were approved by more than 70% of the electorate in 1988 under a state initiative called Proposition 90. But since then, only three rural counties have approved the transfers--Modoc, Inyo and Kern.

Nine urban counties also allow the transfers: Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego, Riverside, Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Mateo and Santa Clara.

The tax rate transfers were offered to help senior citizens of retirement age move away from congested urban centers to more rural settings, officials said.

Under a 1986 initiative, senior citizens statewide can move within their county and still retain their tax rates if they buy a dwelling of equal or lesser value.