ELECTIONS / MEASURE Z : Boosters Push Port Hueneme Tax for Police

In Port Hueneme, Tuesday’s ballot features races for everything from governor to county supervisor.

But it is a small-town issue--whether to tax homeowners $56 a year to maintain the city’s police force--that is commanding most of the attention, judging by the forest of campaign signs on front lawns.

The prospect of losing the city’s 19-member police force has galvanized residents, who see it as a hallmark of the community’s independence. The city cut two positions from the department last year.

Hundreds of volunteers who have mobilized over the past few weeks are spending the remaining days before the election posting signs, knocking on doors, and hawking mugs, T-shirts and bumper stickers to help spare the local police.

This weekend, Measure Z supporters will gather at the Hueneme High School athletic field for Port Hueneme Country Days, daylong fund-raisers featuring craft and food booths, entertainment and other activities.

“It has absolutely brought us together,” said Valorie Morrison, chairwoman of the Save Our Port Hueneme Police Department committee. “We have a little paradise here, and we want to keep it.”

On the menu of the snack bar Morrison runs at the Port Hueneme Pier, a handbill urges customers to vote “Yes on Measure Z.” Nearby, a black T-shirt proclaiming support for the initiative hangs from a rafter.

Support for the measure seems to be pouring in from all parts of the seaside city.

Along Hueneme Road, dozens of canary-yellow signs line the thoroughfare, asking voters to say yes to the tax increase. At Ventura Road and Channel Islands Boulevard, an imposing black billboard offers the same message.

“We’re having some trouble with the city because they have to stay neutral and we can’t post (the signs) in the medians,” said Jay Skidmore, a volunteer who was out pitching signs along Hueneme Road on Wednesday.

“If I had my way, I’d wrap ‘em around every tree,” he said.

But not everyone in the city of 22,000 is willing to plunk down slightly more than $1 a week to spare the department.

“I vote no on everything from Port Hueneme,” John Ferraro, a retired phone company worker, said while fishing from the pier Wednesday. “I don’t see anything wrong with contracting out for police.”

Perhaps more so than any issue since the controversial “view tax,” Measure Z is stirring up debate in bars and diners, and biting into discussions among friends and neighbors.

Ferraro, for one, said he started distrusting city officials when they imposed a $200-a-year tax on the ocean view from his beachfront condominium. “Now they want to put an RV park in there,” he said.

Skidmore, wearing one of the $10 T-shirts he sells, said people recognize the logo. They reach into their pockets for donations, no questions asked, he said.

“I got four quarters from one person who was just coming out of the store,” he said. “Another guy dug into his pocket and gave me $2. It’s incredible.”

The tax would generate about $500,000 a year in additional income--roughly the difference between current revenues and the $2.2 million it costs to run the Police Department, according to City Manager Richard Velthoen.

“Police service is the major general fund expense,” said Velthoen, who administers the city’s $6.8-million budget. “It’s huge. When you manage a small department, it’s more difficult to spread costs.”

Each of the 7,000 or so homeowners would pay $56 a year, while commercial and industrial buildings would be taxed 2 1/2 cents per square foot. Vacant lots would be charged just under a penny per square foot.

The measure requires approval by a two-thirds majority to pass. But Velthoen said that if it comes close but fails, he might recommend that the City Council impose a utility users tax to make up the $500,000 difference.

Velthoen said the city has 77 employees, about a dozen fewer than it did 20 years ago. Also, Port Hueneme police typically make less than their counterparts elsewhere in Ventura County, he said.

“The police officers here know everybody,” said Ginger Viveros, a Hueneme Road resident who planted a “Yes on Measure Z” sign in her front yard.

“They know who the good guys are and they know who the bad guys are,” Viveros said. “They saw a van one time that was unfamiliar to them, and the guy turned out to be selling stolen TVs.

“They just knew that something wasn’t right and they caught the guy.”