Las Virgenes School Bond Overwhelmingly OKd

Despite two failed tax initiatives in recent years, voters in the Las Virgenes Unified School District passed a $93.1-million school bond measure by a 79% majority in Tuesday’s election.

The last time the district was able to convince local voters that a bond was needed was in 1970.

School district officials credited the help of a consultant, a better economy and a large parent volunteer effort to get out the vote for the success of the measure.

“This represented two years’ worth of planning and effort,” Donald Zimring, assistant superintendent of business, said Wednesday. “It shows that there is a tremendous community support for our schools. It also shows a fair amount of credibility and trust in the programs we offer our kids.”

District officials said deferred maintenance on schools, some of which are well over 30 years old, will begin in the spring.

One of the three new campuses to be paid for by the measure should be completed within two or three years, Zimring said.

Officials for the district, which serves Calabasas, Hidden Hills, Westlake Village, Agoura Hills and unincorporated Agoura, said the 79% majority vote for Measure R was surprisingly large, but indicative of the efforts of the hundreds of volunteers on the citizens committee.

Voters in Agoura Hills were not as generous as the community at large, voting down two tax initiatives on their ballot.

Measure E, which would have imposed a special parcel tax on property owners to build a new library, received 59%, but needed a two-thirds majority to pass.

The loss of the library tax was the biggest disappointment of the election, Agoura Hills Mayor Pro-Tem Denis Weber said.

Measure D, which would have imposed a tax up to 3% on business and industrial users of telephone, electricity and gas service to go into the general fund, received 46% of the vote, but needed a full majority.

He blamed a negative campaign waged by the Agoura Hills Chamber of Commerce as the most likely cause of the defeat of Measure D.

Although the chamber had initially approved of the measure, it withdrew support after the council decided not to put a limit on the years it would be collected.

Agoura Hills voters have generally been adverse to approving taxes, the most recent example being the ill-fated general Utility Users Tax rejected in June. Weber said it was too soon to contemplate whether the city would try again soon.

The races for seats on the city councils in Agoura Hills and Westlake Village, as well as the Las Virgenes school board, were dominated by incumbents, all of whom won new terms. A few challengers won seats vacated by members who chose not to run again.

Barbara Bowman-Fagelson won a fourth term on the school board with a vote of 25%, Judy Jordan will serve her third term, winning a seat with a vote of 24%, and Charlotte Meyer will begin her second term, also earning 24% of the vote.

In Agoura Hills, incumbents Ed Corridori and Weber won second terms, with 26% and 22% of the vote, respectively. Jeff Reinhardt, a city planning commissioner, with 20% of the vote, won the seat left vacant by founding Councilwoman Fran Pavley.

In Westlake Village, incumbent Kris Carraway-Bowman garnered 27% of the vote to begin her second term, and newcomers Iraj Broomand and Mark Rutherford earned 29% and 27%, respectively. They will replace council members Doug Yarrow and James Emmons, who did not seek reelection.