Angry Crowd Jeers Vector Control Board’s Raising of Fee : Government: Residents, fed up with tax increases and a poor economy, complain bitterly of pest control hike of $2.09 per year. Agency blames fund loss to state.

Weary of fees and taxes, distrusting government and generally fed up with the economy, a crowd of jeering Orange County residents vented their anger Wednesday at a hearing for a pest control fee hike that amounts to less than 20 cents a month.

The raucous hearing before the Vector Control Board, which ended in a unanimous vote to approve the fee increase, capped a monthlong public outcry against the proposal that took the form of thousands of phone calls and 12,937 letters protesting the move.

Officials attributed the surprisingly strong response to tension regarding the economy and to poor phrasing in a notice mailed to residents that did not explain the need for a fee increase to pay for curbing the county’s vermin and disease.

But audience members said there was more to it than that. Many seemed certain they smelled a rat in the vector control increase from $1.10 to $3.19 per year. The rate is the same on any real estate parcel, whether home or business, which was one of the complaints expressed by the residents. Some charged the board with incompetence, while others suggested that officials themselves were somehow profiting.

“I am horrified, just horrified that they can sit there and face their constituency and tell us these lies,” red-faced La Habra resident Heidi Day said. “They are very, very evil. We, the people, cannot take another charge.”

Despite the flood of calls and letters, many of the 32 board members seemed stunned by the vitriolic attack aimed at their usually low-profile agency.

“For a lot of these people, it’s very hard to see through the emotion, but I empathize with them,” said board member Laurann Cook, a Fountain Valley City Council member. Cook was booed by some when she stood to explain the budget-strapped agency’s goals. “A lot weren’t listening to the reasons, but I understand why they are so upset.”

Filing before the microphone to address the dazed board, two dozen speakers--some surly, some passionate--lambasted every level of government and were greeted by a chorus of support.

“This country was founded by people sick to death of being taxed unfairly by people that did not represent them,” said Jim Camp, an Anaheim resident who had left work to attend the 3:30 p.m. hearing. “I didn’t vote for anyone on this board. The people are sick and tired of being nickeled and dimed to death.”

Vector control director Gil Challet said the fee increase was to cover a revenue loss of more than $1.32 million caused by a state tax shift. Without the hike, he said, vector control would not be able to maintain its public health operations.

While the increase translates to a small bill when spread among 700,000 property owners, Challet said the backlash had more to do with principal than prices.

“We had people calling up and saying, ‘You’re the best governmental agency I’ve dealt with, the most responsive, but at this point I have to protest any increase,’ ” Challet said. “They talked about higher taxes from federal and state and local agencies, and they said enough was enough.”

Residents used the two-hour hearing, the first of its type in the Vector Control Agency’s 46-year history, to speak out against state and federal politicians and on a variety of other subjects.

One common target was the postcard sent to residents to inform them of the proposed raise. The crowd, most of whom were senior citizens, scolded the board for using convoluted, bureaucratic language and too-small type.

“We learned a lesson with that one,” Cook said. “They had a good point.”

The flood of attention to the agency has left more than a few of its 60 full-time employees frayed and overworked, Challet said. Added to the fee debate, employees have had to deal with the summer months’ typical upswing in vector activity and a few unexpected crises.

The agency is coping with both a reported case of encephalitis within the county and intensifying efforts to scan the area for the presence of the rodent-carried hantavirus, which has been linked to deaths in various Southwestern states.

Challet said there were about 2,000 calls from residents for service in August, double the agency’s typical total during the month. He noted that in 1975 the agency handled 3,200 service calls, a number that had ballooned to more than 11,000 by this year.

“The lady that answers the phone for us took more than 200 calls by 4 p.m. yesterday, and that’s an awful lot of phone calls,” Challet said. “She told me that by the end of the day she was writing her own phone number on service requests (instead of the customer’s). The poor lady just said she didn’t know what she was doing anymore.”