Voters Back Park Maintenance Tax

Moorpark voters have overwhelmingly approved reestablishment of a park maintenance tax in a special election conducted by mail-in balloting.

Nearly 71% of the 3,627 ballots returned to the city backed the measure, officials announced Wednesday night.

The measure called for an annual property tax of $39 per single-family dwelling to pay for park upkeep and improvements.

“It really speaks to the community that they care about their parks,” June Dubreuil, parks and recreation commissioner, said of the election results.

About 40% of the mail-in ballots were returned; 97 were ruled invalid because they were unsigned or did not indicate a “yes” or “no” vote.

Ballots were mailed to property owners on April 28, with residents given 45 days to fill out and return the ballots. This is the second time in two years that residents have voted on whether to pay for maintenance on the city’s 14 parks.

The city’s previous park assessment district was dissolved in June 1998 following defeat of Measure P, a 1997 ballot measure that failed to obtain the needed two-thirds majority.

Also Wednesday, the City Council approved a Moorpark engineer’s report on the assessment, which sets the city’s 1999-2000 park maintenance and improvement budget at nearly $867,000. The park budget, however, along with the remainder of the city’s operating budget, still faces final approval review from the council by the end of the month.