San Diego County Elections : School Bond, Incumbents Faltering : North County: Escondido Mayor Jerry Harmon seems headed for victory, but two City Council veterans battle to retain seats. Fallbrook school bond appears to be falling far short.

A $20-million bond issue to fund school expansion in Fallbrook appeared to be falling far short of its necessary two-thirds voter approval, while in Escondido incumbent City Council members were struggling to retain their seats, early returns showed Tuesday night.

Escondido Mayor Jerry Harmon, who faced only one opponent, apparently was being returned to another two-year term, election returns indicated. But his two council colleagues--Carla DeDominicis and Rick Foster--were at risk of becoming casualties of anti-incumbency sentiment and concern among voters that the current slow-growth City Council majority had gone too far in stifling economic growth in the city.

Challengers Elmer C. Cameron, Lori Holt Pfeiler, Vivian Doering and Kevin Thomas--each campaigning that Escondido had to get back to business--were all making strong early showings in the race, at times even leading the incumbents in the early counting.

The Fallbrook bond issue has gone before voters three times previously: in 1978 and twice in 1990, each time failing to win the two-thirds majority necessary for passage.

Proponents said the focus of Proposition N was the fact that Fallbrook High School, built in 1967 for 1,200 students, must accommodate the 2,300 students who now crowd onto the campus.

By 1999, school officials project an enrollment of 4,100 students, thus the need for the infusion of $20 million for construction projects, the district said. Of that, $10.7 million was earmarked for renovations on the existing campus, and $9.3 million toward developing a new school on Gird Road.

Even if the bond issue passes, officials said a second one--or aid from the state--would be needed to pay the entire tab of renovating Fallbrook High School and building a second school.

Voters went to the ballot box Tuesday knowing that they would be increasing their property tax by $8.43 for every $100,000 of assessed valuation if the measure passed. And, if it didn’t, the district said, students would be forced into year-round school or double sessions. If the bond issue sounded familiar in Fallbrook, so too did the names of the candidates for election to the Escondido City Council.

Harmon has served on the City Council since 1974, for years serving as its sole voice for slow growth. In 1990, he became the city’s first directly elected mayor for a two-year term. In his first contest to hold on to the seat, he faced only token opposition from just one challenger, P. K. (Patricia) Walker, a bookkeeper who acknowledged that she ran for the mayor’s job only because no one else had.

Incumbent DeDominicis, an attorney, was elected in 1988, helping Harmon establish a new slow-growth majority on the council. Foster, a field operations director for a health-testing company who had managed the campaigns of other council members, was appointed to the council in 1990 to take over Harmon’s uncompleted council term.

The fourth seat on the council was held by Kris Murphy, who also was elected in 1988 but chose not to seek reelection.

Tuesday’s election was considered a referendum on the current council’s efforts to slow the city’s growth, with critics arguing that their success in putting a lid on growth was coming at the expense of the city’s fiscal health.

Perceived as front-runners from the start because of their connections in the local business community were Thomas, a graphic designer and president of the Downtown Business Assn., and Cameron, who spent 21 years as an administrator with the Escondido Union (elementary) School District.

Pfeiler, an accountant, and Doering, a former trustee of the Escondido Union (elementary) School District, had also campaigned on themes of City Hall arrogance and rising crime.