MOORPARK : City Seeks Increase in Spending Limit

In an effort to use more of Moorpark’s tax dollars for police and other services, city officials are investigating how to increase a spending limit imposed when the city incorporated nine years ago.

The City Council voted unanimously this week to have staff members prepare a report and schedule a public hearing on increasing the city’s legal limit for spending tax dollars.

All California cities have been limited on the amount of tax dollars that they can spend since state voters passed Proposition 4, called the Gann Initiative, in 1979.

Moorpark officials contend the spending limit--imposed by the Local Agency Formation Commission when Moorpark was founded--did not allow enough funding to cover basic expenses for police protection, parks maintenance and other services.

Under the Gann Initiative, cities’ annual spending limits vary, based on how much in taxes--including property and sales taxes--they actually receive.

When a city receives more tax dollars than it is allowed to spend in any given year, it is allowed to spend the excess on capital projects such as road improvements, but not on city services.

Moorpark’s annual spending limit was initially $900,000 and has risen to more than $3 million. In the 1990-91 fiscal year, Moorpark received $173,814 more in taxes than its spending limit.

Some of this money was spent on road improvements. The council is expected to return the rest to taxpayers by reducing future park-assessment fees.

Moorpark officials are considering challenging the city’s spending limit in Ventura County Superior Court. Other cities that have recently increased their spending limits through court challenges include Santa Barbara and Santa Clarita.