ELECTIONS : Voters OK Tax Hike to Upgrade Schools : Returns: Beverly Hills bucks tradition as unofficial results show Proposition S, the $77-million bond issue, garnering the two-thirds margin needed to pass.

After years of saying no, voters in Beverly Hills on Tuesday agreed to dig deeper into their pockets and raise taxes to pay for upgrading local schools.

Unofficial returns showed that Proposition S--a $77-million bond issue that will pay for improving classrooms and other facilities at the five schools in Beverly Hills Unified School District--garnered about 70% of the vote. It needs two-thirds--roughly 67% of the vote--to pass. The initial vote totals were 4,079 for the bond, 1,753 against it.

The bond issue will levy a tax spread over 35 years that is based on the assessed value of property. About 60% of the tax will fall on residential property owners, with the remaining 40% to be shouldered by commercial property owners.

In other results, Beverly Hills school board members Lillian L. Raffel and A.J. Wilmer were reelected to four-year terms. But the outcome of a race for the remaining two years of an unexpired board term remained unclear. As of Wednesday, Jo Ann Koplin held a scant three-vote lead over Michael Karlin, with some absentee ballots yet to be counted.

In the Culver City Unified School District, incumbent Robert J. Knopf, Barbara Honig and Joan Jakubowski won school board seats. Incumbent G. James Quirarte was defeated.

The passage of the Beverly Hills bond issue was especially satisfying to district officials who have watched several other revenue proposals fail in recent years, including one that fell only five votes short of the needed two-thirds majority.

“We’re so proud of the community,” board President Richard A. Stone said Wednesday. The two-thirds threshold makes proposed tax hikes difficult to pass under any circumstances. In the Beverly Hills school district, the task has been even tougher because teachers and parents who traditionally support such measures comprise a small percentage of the population. Only about 20% of residents are parents of school-aged children and not many teachers can afford the city’s pricey housing.

Stone acknowledged that the district’s prior tax proposals, including one that would have levied a parcel tax on commercial and residential properties, were perceived by many residents as unfair.

“A parcel tax is about the same tax for everyone,” said Stone. “A bond issue . . . is based on assessed value of real property, so a property assessed at $10-million will pay 10 times as much (as a property assessed at $1 million).”

He credited a citizens committee that campaigned for Proposition S with doing “a fabulous job of educating the community” on the difference between bond issues and other tax proposals.

There was no organized opposition to the proposal. But a scattering of opponents argued that the district’s plans for the bond money were vague and that the proposal was inherently unfair because it is based on already inequitable property assessments created by Proposition 13.

The district plans to use money generated by the bond issue to make seismic improvements to schools, remove asbestos and repair deteriorating walls, stairs, ceilings and roofs.

WESTSIDE / Municipal Elections

Ballot Measures Beverly Hills USD 100% Precincts Reporting S--Classroom Improvements (Requires Two-Thirds Vote)

Votes % Yes 4,079 70 No 1,753 30

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Special Districts

School Boards Beverly Hills Unified School District 100% Precincts Reporting 2 Elected

Votes % Lillian L. Raffel * 3,047 33 A. J. Willmer * 2,773 30 Josh Gross 2,156 23 Trisha Roth 1,401 15 Partial Term Jo Ann Koplin 2,765 50 Michael Karlin 2,762 50

Culver City Unified School District 100% Precincts Reporting 3 Elected

Votes % Barbara Honig 4,209 29 Joan Jakubowski 3,688 26 Robert G. Knopf * 3,553 25 G. James Quirarte * 2,934 20