Chamber Declines to Back Tax Measure

Supporters of Agoura Hills’ controversial utility tax were dealt a setback when the local chamber of commerce declined to endorse a June 25 ballot measure asking voters to uphold the tax.

Seven members of the group’s board of directors voted recently to support the measure, while four voted to oppose it, said Brandy Paterak-McCavic, president of the Agoura Chamber of Commerce. Four members, she said, voted to remain neutral, leaving the board one short of a majority.

City Councilwoman Louise Rishoff sparked a controversy when she sent the chamber a letter earlier this month asking the organization to support the ballot measure. If the measure fails, Rishoff wrote, the city would have to find alternative revenue sources and “new or increased business taxes will be an obvious option.”

Barbara Murphy, head of a local anti-tax group, accused the city of trying to intimidate the chamber, which receives about $5,000 annually from the city. But Rishoff, an attorney, said she merely meant to state the facts.

“The letter speaks for itself,” she said. “It’s an advocacy letter. I wanted very much to get the chamber’s support on this ballot measure, and was laying out every argument I could think of.”

Paterak-McCavic said she did not view the letter as an attempt to intimidate.

“She’s an attorney,” Paterak-McCavic said. “She writes very factually, very clearly and that’s exactly the way most of the people I talked to took it.”

Under the tax, passed in 1994, residents pay 4% while businesses pay 3 1/2%. In her letter, Rishoff argued that Agoura Hills businesses have it good, compared to, say, Los Angeles businesses, which pay a 12.5% utility tax.

Agoura Hills officials said they hope the chamber will reconsider and put it to another vote. Paterak-McCavic said that another vote will be scheduled after board members have had more time to study the issue.