Council OKs Ballot Measure for Park Maintenance

When Moorpark voters go the polls in November, they will decide whether to tax themselves up to $68 annually to pay for maintenance at city parks.

By unanimous vote, the City Council decided Wednesday night to place the question of creating a special tax for parks maintenance on the Nov. 4 ballot.

Park upkeep is now paid through a parks maintenance assessment district that receives $637,277 annually in collections from residents and transfers from the city’s General Fund.

For fiscal 1997-98, the city has earmarked $179,000 for park maintenance, which includes $15.61 on behalf of each single-family home.

But the assessment district and its taxing authority may be casualties of Proposition 218, a statewide measure passed last year that requires voter approval of most taxes and assessments.

During Wednesday’s public hearing on the ballot measure, the five council members listened to two residents opposed to the 10-year tax proposal, which would raise about $700,000 for parks maintenance beginning in fiscal year 1998-99. The additional money collected would be used for cost increases.

Moorpark resident Joe Piechowski said the increase from the current $40.16 assessment to the maximum tax of $68.50 would be unfair.

“Increasing the tax 70% without a proportional tax cut, it’s a revenue shell game,” Piechowski said.

Former council member Eloise Brown, long an opponent to having a special parks assessment district, told the panel that she will campaign against the tax.

As planned, the maximum tax levies on behalf of park maintenance would be $1,197 for light manufacturing operations, $997 for neighborhood shopping centers and $598 for office buildings or retail stores above one story.