Use of Sales Tax Urged to Pay Jail Debt : Simi Valley: Mayor Stratton’s proposal to cover booking fees with Proposition 172 revenues meets with skepticism.

Hoping to eliminate Simi Valley’s share of nearly $1 million in jail-booking fees, Mayor Greg Stratton is proposing that the debt be paid out of the recently extended half-cent sales tax.

But the plan was met with skepticism from Ventura County and other cities’ leaders, who say the money from Proposition 172 is intended to keep fire stations open and police officers patrolling the streets.

County Auditor-Controller Tom Mahon said the $26 million in sales tax revenue the county expects to receive over the next fiscal year because of Proposition 172 will not even cover the $36 million in property taxes the county lost to state budget cuts.

“This is not really new money,” Mahon said. “It is money to help try to maintain things as they are.”

Stratton, however, said he believes some of the money should be set aside for projects like the one he has proposed.

“If we don’t set up specific projects like this, I’m concerned that somehow this money is just going to disappear into the county bureaucracy,” Stratton said. “They’re going to swizzle around some money and say, ‘Yeah, it went to law enforcement.’ ”

Stratton said that if the county paid the fees, cities could hire more police with the money that the communities have put in reserve just in case the courts force them to pay the fees.

California’s counties and cities have been waging legal battles over the jail-booking fees since the California Legislature approved them in 1990 to help counties make up for losses in state funding.

Law enforcement officials say the jail-booking fees have endangered public safety by forcing police agencies to release criminals after their arrests rather than take them to the county jail where they would be forced to pay a $120-per-inmate fee.

In Ventura County, cities have racked up a $900,000 bill by refusing to pay the booking fees levied by the Sheriff’s Department.

In a letter addressed to Supervisor Susan Lacey, Stratton said he wanted to end a legal battle between the county and its 10 cities over the fees.

“As you may know, the jail-booking fee was part of an elaborate scheme by the state to rip off the counties and then allow the counties to recover some of their damage from the cities,” Stratton wrote. “The resulting lawsuits have been a roadblock to smoother city/county relations.”

Ventura County Counsel James McBride said a lawsuit pending in Sacramento Superior Court could force payment from the cities, but that the cities may choose to appeal.

City and law enforcement officials praised Stratton’s proposal, but said they doubted it would gain approval from the Board of Supervisors.

“Fat chance,” said Port Hueneme City Manager Richard Velthoen. “It sounds like a great idea, but I’m not too optimistic about the chance for county approval.”

Oxnard Assistant Police Chief Stan Myers agreed. “I think that we’re probably in a situation right now where we’re robbing Peter to pay Paul,” Myers said. “If we use portions of our budget from the tax to pay booking fees, we’ll be taking money from other places that need it even more.”