Digital Dilemma

They would prefer five numbers of their very own, but “Oak Park 91362” sounds fine to residents who want to put an end to nearly three decades of using a Los Angeles County ZIP Code.

Sharing 91362 with the North Ranch and Oakbrook Village communities of Thousand Oaks would mean lower automobile insurance rates and reduced local sales taxes on vehicles and mail order purchases, officials said.

In an effort to show the U.S. Postal Service how badly the 15,000 or so residents of this unincorporated area want to dump their current 91301 ZIP Code they share with Agoura Hills, Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Sherman Oaks) is conducting a survey of Oak Park households on the matter.

Sherman, whose district includes Oak Park, Thousand Oaks and Newbury Park, said he hopes the surveys, sent to 4,700 households, will be returned within 10 days.

The eight-question survey asks residents whether they believe the issue is important or not and whether Oak Park should be granted its own ZIP Code, share one with another Ventura County community or keep its existing one.

For those residents willing to share, the survey asks whether it makes any difference which community Oak Park is joined with.

Resident Steven Iceland said he considers the problem an “economic burden to the community,” not an issue of establishing a separate identity.

For example, mail-order firms and those that take phone orders charge a sales tax based on a customer’s address. This means Oak Park residents are often charged the Los Angeles County rate of 8.25% instead of Ventura County’s 7.25%, according to officials.

On occasion, Oak Park residents who dial 911 have been connected to Los Angeles County dispatch, causing unnecessary delays in responding to an emergency.

Neal Marks, a five-year Oak Park resident, said he would accept a North Ranch ZIP Code to avoid a protracted battle with the postal service, which recently refused to grant Oak Park its own number.

“Oak Park should be segregated out of Los Angeles County,” he said. “I think this is bureaucratic. The post office should just deal with the service end of the spectrum. They should not step into the political arena.”

Marks said he was charged an extra $400 in sales tax on a $40,000 car he purchased in Van Nuys, which charged him 8.25% sales tax.

“When you purchase a car, if you don’t specifically state you live in Ventura County, you’re stuck with 8.25%,” he said. “I made them redo the sales contract.”

Todd Haines, an Oak Park Municipal Advisory Council member, said he would prefer a separate ZIP Code, but that he would gladly share 91362 with North Ranch and Oakbrook Village.

He vividly recalls being charged too much sales tax on a kitchenware purchase because the seller believed he lived in Los Angeles County.

“I wasn’t happy,” he said. “My tax is not only higher, but it’s going to L.A.”

Sherman said he would prioritize the ZIP Code issue according to the number of people who respond to the survey.

“I think the overwhelming majority of respondents will say, ‘Hey, this is an important issue,’ ” he said.

Should most respondents demand a separate ZIP Code for Oak Park, Sherman said he would push the postal service to reverse its 30-year stance against such an action.

If needed, Sherman said he would round up 20 to 30 members of Congress who want new ZIP Codes for their communities and apply additional pressure on the agency.