Port Hueneme Adopts New Tax to Fund Police

At the urging of city residents, the Port Hueneme City Council Wednesday night agreed to adopt a utility tax to raise money needed to keep the city’s independent police force.

The council’s 4-0 decision was met by cheers and applause from residents who packed the council’s chambers. Mayor Orvene Carpenter abstained from the vote because he said he has difficulties taxing people on utilities.

“This is more than I expected,” said Port Hueneme Police Chief John Hopkins. “I am thrilled to death.”

Specifically, the council directed city staff to draft a utility tax that would be tacked onto bills for water, electricity, gas and cable television.

The council did not set a specific rate for the tax, but instructed city workers to figure out what it would take to raise the $500,000 a year the city needs to maintain its 19-officer Police Department.

Wednesday night’s decision comes after a property tax measure fell just shy of the two-thirds majority needed for approval in the June 7 election. The tax was designed to raise enough revenue to save the Police Department from closing.

The council decided to approve the utility tax after about 150 residents crowded the council chambers to urge council members to preserve the city’s independent police force. “I beg you, do not take our Police Department away,” said Robin Streuber, a longtime Port Hueneme resident. “For the sake of our children and senior citizens, keep them.”

Several residents urged council members to impose a tax on residents, even though city voters rejected a property tax in the June 7 election.

“As a retired senior citizen on a fixed income, I oppose (new) taxes,” said Geraldine Woody, a Port Hueneme resident for 38 years. “But I urge the council to pass the utility tax because I firmly support our local Police Department.”

The council has been considering a utility tax ever since Measure Z fell short of the two-thirds majority needed for approval. The property tax was designed to raise the $500,000 a year required to fund the city’s police force.

When it takes effect in the fall, a utility tax will be applied on services for water, electricity, gas and cable television. But City Manager Richard Velthoen said the council will have to determine the rate of such a utility tax.

Velthoen said it will be several weeks before city staff return to the council with a final draft of the proposed utility tax.

Ventura has a utility tax and charges its residents 5% on cable television, telephone, electricity and gas services, which brings the city more than $5 million a year, said Kaye Mirabelli, a Ventura city official. But a similar rate in Port Hueneme would generate far less because it has less than one-quarter Ventura’s population.

The council also considered other options, including shutting down the Police Department and contracting for less-expensive police services from the county Sheriff’s Department or neighboring Oxnard.

In the past two weeks, council members received more than 480 letters from residents urging them to save the Police Department.

The more than 100 residents who make up the Save Our Port Hueneme Police Department committee have mounted a public relations campaign in recent weeks to win support of the council.

With donations from local businesses and residents, they paid more than $300 to run ads in newspapers. One of the ads asked residents “to make the will of the people a reality” by cutting out a printed letter to the council, signing their names and mailing it to City Hall.