Voters Decide Tax and School Bond Measures, City Council Seats

Voters were giving mixed reviews Tuesday to a variety of school bond and municipal tax measures, the hottest issues in nearly 100 local elections across Los Angeles County, preliminary election night returns showed.

In northwest Los Angeles County, a $93.1-million bond measure to repair schools in the Las Virgenes Unified School District easily won approval. However, similar bond measures failed in the Torrance Unified School District, Mt. San Antonio Community College District and the Bassett Unified School District, according to county results.

School bond measures were leading in the El Segundo and Pasadena Unified school districts. In the Lawndale School District, a bond measure was trailing, while in the Eastside Union School District, a similar measure remained close.

Supporters of the Las Virgenes measure were jubilant. “We’re ecstatic,” said Jeff Wachtel, co-chairman of a parents committee that worked to pass Measure R. “It means three new schools. We can reduce the overcrowding, replace roofs . . . and build facilities designed to house the number of students who need to use them.”

Early returns tended to favor incumbent candidates in many races.

In Hermosa Beach, where debate over downtown revitalization took center stage in the campaigns for City Council, incumbents John Bowler, Julie Oakes and J.R. Reviczky were leading four challengers by wide margins.

“Looks real clear for the policies of the current council, and I appreciate that,” said Bowler, who helped transform the beachside downtown into a plaza lined with trendy bars and eateries.

Despite his decision last month to quit the Bonita school board race in San Dimas and La Verne, incumbent Robert Olander II also appeared headed for reelection. Olander’s withdrawal came too late to remove his name from the ballot.

However, in Lomita, an incumbent City Council member lost. Councilman Lawson Pedigo was defeated in his bid for a second term while colleague Ben Traina handily won reelection. Timothy King, one of four challengers, will replace Pedigo. Revitalization of the city’s business district was a key issue in the contest.

King, a security consultant and retired Los Angeles police captain, said he plans to take a look at the city’s fiscal situation, especially to improve the city’s business district and residential property values when he’s sworn in next week.

Cities that asked voters for various tax measures got mixed results. Azusa voters appeared to be approving at least two of five tax requests, while Hawthorne voters were approving a business license fee but were turning down a utility users tax.

Hawthorne Mayor Larry Guidi, who was reelected Tuesday, said it was difficult for him to celebrate knowing that today the city would have to start slashing every department’s budget.

“The voters just played Russian roulette with the future of their city,” he said. “It’s serious.”

Tuesday’s balloting in Los Angeles County took place in 17 cities and 59 school districts, as well as in eight community college districts, seven water districts, two irrigation districts and one library district.

Tax and fiscal issues were the dominant theme in many of the election races, particularly in the eight school or community college districts in which voters were asked to approve bond measures totaling $625 million.

All the bond measures required two-thirds approval for passage. The revenues from the bonds--to be paid back over 25 to 30 years--were earmarked for renovating or expanding aging school facilities or for building new ones. The money could not be spent on salaries, administrative costs or educational programs.

Two of the districts--El Segundo and Torrance--placed measures on Tuesday’s ballot after similar measures were turned down by voters in June. Torrance switched its $80.5-million bid to a more commonly used, less controversial form of bonds, known as general obligation, after falling short with a so-called Mello Roos measure, which would have taxed businesses and residences at different rates. The June vote drew 58% “yes” votes, a solid majority but well short of the two-thirds required.

A $24-million bond measure in El Segundo lost in June by a mere 31 votes, and supporters were hoping that a pending shift in school district boundaries would put the measure over the top this time.

In June, the measure drew strong opposition in El Porto, a formerly unincorporated community that was annexed by Manhattan Beach several years ago but remained in the El Segundo school district. Many El Porto residents send their children to Manhattan Beach, and the county and the two districts are preparing to switch the neighborhood from one district to the other. That means El Porto property owners would not pay for the El Segundo bonds, a fact that bond backers were hoping would calm opposition from that neighborhood.

Several local cities had tax measures on their ballots, most of which required voters’ permission because of Proposition 218, the state initiative approved last fall.

Agoura Hills asked voters to authorize a utility users tax on businesses and a citywide special parcel tax to pay for library facilities. Azusa had five tax measures on its ballot, most of which were aimed at industrial or commercial interests.

Fiscal concerns played out in elections in several other communities, even without a specific measure on the local ballot.

Long-running disputes over construction and management problems in the Palos Verdes Library District framed the four-way race for two seats on the board. The incumbents decided not to seek reelection to the board, which oversees three libraries on the well-heeled Palos Verdes Peninsula.

School bond measures, which are cropping up with increasing reglarity on local ballots as districts seek ways to refurbish or replace aging campuses, sparked lively campaigns in several communities. They were most hotly contested in Pasadena Unified, which includes Sierra Madre and Altadena as well as Pasadena, and in Torrance.

Pasadena’s $240-million measure--by far the largest in Tuesday’s balloting--drew formal opposition from the Libertarian Party and a dogged crusade from an anti-bonds parent who set up a Web page from which to lob criticism of district spending habits.

But the measure enjoyed broad support from civic leaders, and the campaign was guided by a campaign consultant with an enviable track record. Oakland-based Larry Tramutola had succeeded in winning approval for 51 of the 55 measures he oversaw during the last three years.

Tramutola also was hired by backers of a $93.1-million bond measure for the Las Virgenes Unified School District. That measure drew no organized opposition, but supporters expressed some concerns that tax measures on the ballot in one of the district’s communities, Agoura Hills, might cause voters to balk at the bonds.

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Times correspondents Deborah Belgum, Tracy Johnson, Sue McAllister and Richard Winton contributed to this story.