O.C. Supervisors to Join Revolt Against Tax Shift : Government: Chairman Wieder says board will defy Wilson on proposal to send county revenue to schools.

The Orange County Board of Supervisors will join a growing tax revolt among local governments and defy Gov. Pete Wilson’s proposed shift of as much as $2.1 billion in property taxes from local governments to public schools, board Chairman Harriett M. Wieder announced Monday.

The board is scheduled to approve a resolution today under which it would refuse to turn over as much as $200 million, if the state makes good on its threat to snatch property tax revenue from counties throughout the state.

The action would add Orange County to a list of 45 California counties taking part in what amounts to a tax protest.

“We really feel enough is enough,” Wieder said. The proposed property tax shift “will be absolutely devastating to the county.”

While her colleagues vote on the resolution today, Wieder will be in Sacramento lobbying Orange County legislators to oppose the revenue shift. Aides to the four other supervisors said they would vote for the resolution.

Supervisor Gaddi H. Vasquez is expected to join the lobbying effort in Sacramento on Wednesday.

The resolution before supervisors instructs county officials “to ignore any action the state Legislature may take to raid local property taxes,” Wieder said at a news conference Monday.

The county’s defiant posture won the admiration of Mary Ellen Goddard, incoming president of the Friends of the Costa Mesa Library, where proposed budget cuts are expected to be severe.

“I’m pleased they have taken this stance,” Goddard said. “I don’t know what good it will do them. I certainly feel that the state should try everything else before they take money away from the counties.”

At a rally to oppose the tax shift Monday evening, Santa Ana City Manager David N. Ream described the state’s plan as “predatory public policy.”

He also compared state politicians with creatures in the movie “Jurassic Park.” That film, he said, is “supposed to be about the largest predators in the history of the world, but let me tell you, the biggest predator in the history of the world is the California state government.”

About 85 people attended the meeting, which was sponsored by the recently formed People First, an organization made up of labor and community organizations that has called for state officials to seek other means of balancing the budget.

The resolution coming before the supervisors today instructs the county’s tax collector and controller to “collect and allocate local property tax monies on the same basis as last year.”

Similar resolutions and ordinances have been adopted by virtually every urban California county, including Los Angeles County.

“We’re really testing issues that haven’t been tested before,” county budget director Ronald S. Rubino conceded Monday. “It really comes down to we’re making a point: Stop the tax grab.”

The issue will not be tested unless Wilson and the Legislature go through with the governor’s proposed shift of property tax revenue from county government to public schools, county officials said.

Dan Schnur, Wilson’s press secretary, said it would be illegal for the county to withhold property taxes, which the state wants to redistribute to schools, if legislation is enacted requiring the transfer.

Orange County officials said Monday that the issue would probably have to be resolved in the courts. The state attorney general’s office declined comment on the matter, explaining that it may have to represent the state if the issue goes to court.

Schnur said the current budget proposal under consideration in Sacramento would transfer as much as $2.1 billion or as little as $600 million in property taxes from local governments.

Wilson originally proposed transferring $2.6 billion to help fund schools while the state seeks ways to address a $9-billion shortfall in its upcoming budget.

Wieder has said that a transfer of $2.1 billion statewide would result in a loss to county government of as much as $200 million. Orange County government already receives the smallest percentage of property tax revenue of the state’s 58 counties.

The county government receives just 18 cents of every property tax dollar collected in the county. In Los Angeles County, the figure is 42 cents.

The biggest losers in a local government revolt would be “the schools and the schoolchildren of Orange County,” Schnur said. “Harriett Wieder and the other supervisors will be withholding funds for Orange County schools. I think that’s something that parents, students and teachers in Orange County would have a hard time accepting.”

Orange County budget officials said Monday that dramatic proposed cutbacks in local services being considered by supervisors are based on a property tax shift of just $1.3 billion statewide.

The $80 million in proposed reductions would include the closure of two fire stations, reduced hours at county parks and closure of all county libraries for one day each week.

“There’s a philosophy here,” Wieder said. “Why raid any property tax money that belongs to local government?”

Wieder said state lawmakers should look to other options to resolve their budget dilemma. Among the options, she said, are closing income tax loopholes and imposing an “entertainment tax.”

Wieder said she also will try to persuade state lawmakers to release county governments from their obligation to meet state mandates, such as those prohibiting contracting services now provided by government employees to the private sector.

Citing a Field Poll that surveyed 994 adults statewide from May 14 to 22, Wieder said public opinion is opposed to the tax shift.

“Two out of three Californians say they side with local government’s position . . . while just 16% side with the governor’s rationale,” Wieder said.

“If we can’t get (the support of) our legislators, who represent the same constituents,” Wieder said, “I hope the voters will remember that the next time they are up” for reelection.

However, Wieder may not find much comfort from legislators she will lobby in Sacramento, even those from Orange County.

State Sen. Marian Bergeson, (R-Newport Beach), chairwoman of the Senate Local Government Committee, said she sees only limited room for maneuvering on the issue.

“Local governments have the greatest portion of the pie, so that’s where there has to be some shifting,” she said. “But the important thing we need to do is give greater options to the locals.”

In particular, Bergeson and several other Orange County lawmakers want to see the state reduce the number of social service programs and other “mandates” that counties are required to provide.

Times correspondent Jon Nalick contributed to this story.

Slim Returns

For every dollar Orange County residents pay in property taxes, county government receives 18 cents. That is the lowest amount for any county and well below the statewide average. Some comparisons: County: Return Orange: 18% Butte: 22% San Diego: 24% Santa Clara: 26% San Bernardino: 27% Alameda: 31% State average: 33% Los Angeles: 42% Source: State Board of Equalization