CAMARILLO : City Agrees to Pay for Mosquito Control

Deciding they had no choice, Camarillo City Council members have given in to Ventura County’s proposal that the city begin paying for mosquito control services.

The council voted 4 to 0 Wednesday to pay $20,700 in fiscal 1993-’94 for the program, which the county previously provided free.

City Council members said they still do not like the idea of paying for a service that is traditionally a responsibility of the county, but that they had no choice because private pest-control companies can not fulfill the state requirements for mosquito control.

Nevertheless, Camarillo city officials said they are pleased that they are not passing the insect-control costs on to property owners.

As a budget-cutting maneuver, the county board voted earlier this year to begin charging property owners $1.12 per year for mosquito control.

Six cities have agreed to the board’s proposal to add the charge onto the property tax bills of their property owners.

But Oxnard and Camarillo decided to pay for the county mosquito program from city funds.

Camarillo city officials said the city of Simi Valley is also expected to use city money to pay for the program.

Moorpark has its own mosquito control program.