Petition Seeks to Limit Use of Prop. 172 Funds

Ventura County’s top law enforcement officials joined a cluster of would-be supervisors Monday to launch a petition drive that would ensure sales tax dollars from Proposition 172 are spent dousing fires and curbing crime.

Dist. Atty. Michael D. Bradbury and Sheriff Larry Carpenter announced the drive at a news conference at the Ventura County Government Center on Monday afternoon.

Moments later, they presented County Clerk Richard D. Dean a list with the signatures of five voters who want to make sure that millions of dollars targeted for law enforcement stay in public-safety budgets.

Faced with a sharp deficit earlier this year, the Ventura County Board of Supervisors directed more than $1 million of the $28 million in sales tax to departments outside public safety, such as the medical examiner’s office.

It also left about $4 million in Proposition 172 funds undesignated.

With another multimillion-dollar county deficit looming next year, Bradbury, Carpenter, four supervisorial candidates and a group called Citizens for a Safe Ventura County have vowed to make sure that doesn’t happen again.

Supervisors “should assume that this is a call to arms,” said Carpenter, despite having received millions from the board to hire new deputies and staff a new jail. “If you believe you should have a say in how your money is spent, then sign the petition.”

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The Board of Supervisors also refused to give any of the Proposition 172 funds to the county Fire Department, which supervisors criticized for its management of a $48-million budget.

The initiative would need the signatures of more than 18,750 voters to qualify for the next general election--scheduled for June, 1996--or more than 37,000 signatures to force a special election, the county clerk said.

An official of the citizens panel predicted the group would force an immediate election by gathering 40,000 or more signatures on Election Day.

“We’ll cover almost all of the precincts,” said Steve Frank of the citizens group. He said they would stand outside the polling places, adding, “People are there to vote. We’ll get close to it. That’s the goal.”

Dean said a special election would cost about $400,000. But Frank said the supervisors have left them no choice other than to pursue the petition.

“If the Board of Supervisors had kept their promise and abided by the will of 172, then we wouldn’t have to spend the money,” Frank said.

Proposition 172, which won huge support from California voters a year ago, called for an extension of a half-cent sales tax that was to expire Jan. 1. It stipulated that the extra tax would fund additional public safety programs.

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In March, the supervisors struck a deal with law enforcement officials to provide $24 million from Proposition 172 to expand existing public safety programs. But following a series of lengthy budget hearings in July, supervisors voted 4 to 1, with Supervisor John K. Flynn opposed, to divert more than $1 million to other programs.

Supervisor Maria VanderKolk, who is not seeking reelection to the board, declined to discuss the petition drive Monday. But Supervisor Maggie Kildee defended the board’s action.

“The board has consistently said that we will give Proposition 172 money to public safety and that’s what the board has done,” she said. “We’re already spending the money on public safety.”

Other California counties have used the Proposition 172 money simply to fund existing programs, rather than expand services or hire new officers as Ventura County has done. But several candidates attending Monday’s announcement disagreed with the supervisors’ action.

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Second District candidate Trudi Loh said the board should have cut into reserves instead of diverting money that voters designated for public safety to other county-run agencies.

“That was the obvious first--and very painless--place to cut,” Loh said.

Thousand Oaks Councilman Frank Schillo, running for the seat now held by VanderKolk, called on the board to direct Proposition 172 funds strictly to public-safety agencies.

“It’s a shame that we have to spend all this time and all this money to do something that should have been done in the first place,” Schillo said.