Authorities Submit Petitions on Prop. 172 Aid : Public safety: Ballot initiative would guarantee that all revenues be spent on prosecutors, police and firefighters.

Armed with the signatures of nearly 58,000 voters, Ventura County law enforcement officials Tuesday submitted petitions for a ballot initiative that would guarantee that all Proposition 172 revenues be spent on prosecutors, police and firefighters.

“I think we’ve sent a strong message that the public knows what’s best for them,” Dist. Atty. Michael D. Bradbury said. “They’re not going to tolerate public officials who substitute their views for what they think the public wants.”

Bradbury, Sheriff Larry Carpenter and members of a group called Citizens for a Safe Ventura County delivered 11 boxes of signed petitions to County Clerk Richard D. Dean during a news conference at the County Government Center.

Carpenter said he was grateful for the public’s strong support, adding that it was easy getting people to sign the petitions.

“People wanted to sign it,” he said. “They literally in some locations stood in line to ensure that their money went where they wanted it to go when they voted for (Proposition 172).”

The petition drive was prompted by the Board of Supervisors’ decision last July to divert some sales tax dollars generated from voter-approved Proposition 172 to agencies outside public safety. Supervisor John Flynn cast the only dissenting vote.

To prevent a similar action in the future, Carpenter and Bradbury began collecting signatures in January for a ballot initiative that would ensure that all Proposition 172 revenues be spent on specific public safety services. The petition defined public safety as the sheriff, district attorney, public defender, probation and fire services.

Although only 44,000 signatures of registered county voters are needed to call a special election, Carpenter and Bradbury said Tuesday that 57,918 signatures had been collected. The county clerk has 30 days to verify the signatures.

The sheriff and district attorney said they would prefer that the Board of Supervisors adopt the language in the ballot initiative as an ordinance, rather than calling a special election, which would cost the county more than $350,000.

Supervisors John Flynn, Judy Mikels and Frank Schillo--all of whom signed the petition and were on hand at Tuesday’s press conference--said they also would favor an ordinance over a special election. Supervisors Maggie Kildee and Susan Lacey did not attend the news conference.

Mikels and Schillo, both elected in November, said the petition leaves no doubt about what the public wants.

“What this has done is confirm the public’s belief that when they come to the polls and vote on a particular issue that they know it’s going to be fulfilled,” Schillo said. “And that’s what’s going to happen.”

Schillo said a proposal to enact the ordinance would probably be submitted to the board before it begins its budget deliberations in July.

By excluding public safety from future budget cuts, the board would be limiting its options for reducing a $38-million deficit without devastating county departments and services.

As a result, Schillo and Mikels have been talking with Carpenter and Bradbury about the possibility of taking over some county programs as a cost-saving measure because their departments are in the best financial shape. The sheriff and district attorney would pay the cost of providing those programs out of their own budgets and would not receive any extra funding.

Both Carpenter and Bradbury said they would be willing to consider consolidating what they perceive as some public safety-related services within their departments as long as they maintained control over those services.

“The sheriff and I are willing to talk and help in any way that’s connected with our responsibilities and with the intent of Proposition 172,” Bradbury said.

During last year’s budget session, Carpenter and Bradbury offered to take over the medical examiner’s office, legal services for children, welfare fraud investigations and prosecution of code enforcement cases.

But the board declined the offer, and instead transferred some Proposition 172 funding from the sheriff and district attorney’s budgets to pay for those services. That action set the stage for the petition drive.

Now that they appear to have the support of many voters and a majority of the board to protect their funding, the sheriff and district attorney said they are willing to work with supervisors to help the county out of its financial bind.