BUENA PARK : Resident Asks Taxing Questions

Marilyn Kietzman, a 10-year city resident, believes that the last place Buena Park should cut costs is in the Police and Fire departments.

With the city facing as much as a $2-million deficit in its 1993-94 fiscal year budget, public safety personnel are feeling the pinch. The City Council last month imposed labor contracts for the Police and Fire departments that included cuts in benefits and offered no pay raises.

Kietzman, 59, believes that to help raise revenue the city may have to impose an entertainment tax on tourists, or its homeowners may be forced to pay increased property taxes for a limited period of time.

Kietzman is distributing a survey seeking residents’ opinions about imposing such taxes.

“I just had this idea and I decided to throw it out there to see how dedicated our residents are,” she said. “We’re all in this together--it’s going to take a team to save our Police and Fire departments.”

The survey asks citizens if they would support a 3% or 5% tax on the price of admission to tourist and entertainment attractions, or a one-half percent property tax increase.

In a city that is home to Knott’s Berry Farm and the Movieland Wax Museum, responses overwhelmingly favor a 3% entertainment tax, Kietzman said.

Kietzman plans to distribute more than 3,000 surveys. If the response is favorable for either tax, she said she will gather signatures to place an initiative on the November ballot.

Mayor Arthur C. Brown said the City Council is discussing the idea of an entertainment tax, along with other options, as a way to raise money to offset the budget deficit.

But Brown said the council has not favored taxing tourists in the past. “It’s come up at different times and the council has split on whether it was the right thing to do,” Brown said.

The city’s police and firefighter associations also support an entertainment tax, and at recent public meetings have urged the council to study the idea.

“It’s not the answer; it’s part of an answer,” said David C. Dorn, president of the Buena Park Firemen’s Assn.

But Jerry La Pointe, president of Spectrum Promotions & Productions Inc., a Buena Park marketing firm for tourist attractions, said the entertainment tax would be detrimental to the local economy.

La Pointe also said the tax would hurt city tourist attractions in their competition with attractions in other cities without such taxes. “It would hurt the city because you would have less people coming to attractions,” said La Pointe, noting that more than 4 million people visit Buena Park each year.

In a statement released Friday, Knott’s Berry Farm officials opposed an entertainment tax, also known as an admission tax. “Knott’s Berry Farm is deeply concerned about the implementation of an admission tax as a primary means of raising revenues necessary to balance the city’s budget and strongly opposes the imposition of such a tax,” the statement said.

Mark Edwards, general manager of Movieland Wax Museum, said the museum would be opposed to the tax if it would “put us out of business” and discourage people from visiting the attraction.

“But if it’s something we can live with to help the community and the Police Department and help the city run more efficiently, then it merits discussion and consideration,” he said.