Council to Consider Police Fund Measures

For the second time in two years, the fate of Port Hueneme’s Police Department could be decided at the ballot box.

The City Council will vote tonight on whether to place two measures on the November ballot that would provide money for police services.

Neither measure would impose a new tax on city residents. Instead, passage of the pair would enable the city to continue collecting--and spending--a 4% utility tax enacted in November 1994.

The council instituted the tax after 64.7% of voters in June 1994 cast ballots favoring a property tax to pay for police services. The property tax barely failed to receive the required two-thirds majority required for adoption, but the narrow defeat convinced the council that a mandate for a utility tax existed. Passage of a utility tax requires approval of only 50% of voters, City Manager Dick Velthoen said.

But a state Supreme Court decision late last year threw the legality of the city’s utility tax into doubt, because it was approved by the council rather than voters.

Efforts to clear the confusion through state legislation have so far been unsuccessful.

The city continues to collect the utility tax, but has refrained from spending the money in case it is forced to return the more than $500,000 a year that the tax generates.

There is little doubt the council will allow the electorate to have the final say, Velthoen said. Not doing so would be a tacit admission that the city will be forced to contract out for police services with another agency and also clear the way for deep budget cuts in other areas, he said.

“People in Port Hueneme cherish their Police Department,” he said. “Hopefully, they will continue to.”

The meeting begins at 7:30 p.m. at City Hall, 250 N. Ventura Road.