Voters Reject Tax to Maintain City’s Parks

Compton property owners have rejected an assessment that would have paid for maintenance at the city’s 12 parks in an election that drew criticism from the authors of Proposition 218.

Final election results indicate that 1,953--or 69.3%--voted against the measure, while 867--or 30.7%--were in favor. An additional 75 ballots were ruled invalid by the city clerk’s office.

The measure would have kept a $33.32 per parcel tax that has existed in Compton for 20 years. That tax, which generated $650,000 yearly, was placed in jeopardy last year with voter approval of Proposition 218. That taxpayer initiative requires local governments to let property owners vote on assessments.

Without the tax, city officials said Thursday, they will have to adjust park maintenance schedules and search for other funding.

Compton officials came under scrutiny for their handling of the election when they extended the voting period after opening the ballots and seeing that the measure appeared to be failing.

The deadline was extended from June 30 to July 15, officials said, mainly because of voter confusion and a scheduling glitch that forced officials to postpone a ballot count.

Representatives of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assn., which wrote Proposition 218, said that although the initiative does not require such ballots to be secret, an early ballot count should have played no role in the election process. They said that they would not dispute the election because the assessment failed.