Residents Plead to Keep City’s Police Force : Port Hueneme: Speakers ask council to do whatever is necessary to avoid contracting with Oxnard or Sheriff’s Department.
One week after a property tax measure aimed at preserving the Port Hueneme Police Department failed to get a two-thirds majority of the vote, residents urged the City Council to do whatever is necessary to save the agency.
During a council meeting Wednesday, all 13 residents who spoke on the issue said the city needs its own department and should not contract with Oxnard police or the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department.
For the record:
12:00 a.m. June 24, 1994 For the Record
Los Angeles Times Friday June 24, 1994 Ventura West Edition Metro Part B Page 5 Column 6 Zones Desk 2 inches; 43 words Type of Material: Correction
Vote totals--An article June 17 incorrectly reported the vote on Measure Z, a proposed tax to support the Port Hueneme Police Department. Of those casting ballots, 64.7% voted in favor of the measure, 35.3% were opposed. The measure failed because it did not get the two-thirds majority required for adoption.
“It would be a tragic mistake having the Sheriff’s Department here,” said Valerie Valencia, a manager for a gas station on Ventura Road. “The Port Hueneme police are like a family. Their services are very quick and they are very caring.”
Only two of the speakers at Wednesday’s meeting said they would not support a possible tax to raise the $500,000 a year needed to keep the department intact.
During the meeting, City Manager Richard Velthoen told the council that to keep the department the city must either adopt a utility tax or make cuts somewhere else.
A utility tax would be applied on services for water, electricity, gas and cable television. City officials have yet to decide the rate of a possible utility tax.
Velthoen strongly opposed cutting other city services or taking money from the city’s General Fund to keep the department running. He told the council those options would cause more problems in the long run because the city is already struggling along on a tight budget.
“If the General Fund resources are used, your city will deteriorate,” Velthoen told the council. “Over time, that would be like a cancer.”
After Wednesday’s public hearing, the council postponed a decision on the issue until its July 6 meeting because Councilmen Ken Hess and Dorill Wright were absent.
Velthoen said the city’s staff cannot move ahead on drafting a utility tax proposal unless the council decides the city should pursue that option.
“We need their direction,” Velthoen said.
Ventura, which has a utility tax, charges its residents 5% on cable, telephone, electricity and gas services, bringing the city more than $5 million a year, said Ventura city official Kaye Mirabella.
In the June 7 election, 64.6% of Port Hueneme voters turned down a proposed tax to keep the department.
On Wednesday, 10-year Port Hueneme resident Esther Feldman told the council that the city already has too many taxes.
“I oppose any additional taxes,” Feldman said. “I am a senior citizen and live on a fixed income. I don’t know how I would be able to pay more taxes.”
The city already has four assessment districts, taxing residents for maintaining lighting, parkways and medians, Hueneme Beach and the city’s public parks.
The assessment districts cover 55% of the $1.4 million cost to the city of those public facilities. The balance is paid from the city’s General Fund, said Tom Figg, director of community development.
One of the benefits the city would lose by contracting with the Sheriff’s Department is having a local police station that is open 24 hours a day.
If the city contracts with the Sheriff’s Department, the Port Hueneme police office would be closed after 5 p.m. and residents would have to go to Ventura.
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