Cash-Strapped Chiefs Seek Changes

Frustrated at being all but cut out of a sales tax windfall, Ventura County police chiefs are rallying support for a campaign to change the way that extra dollars for public safety are divided.

Police chiefs Mike Tracy of Ventura and Bob Gonzales of Santa Paula say they are frustrated that the Sheriff’s Department is enjoying a bonanza of Proposition 172 dollars while local police forces are struggling just to keep pace with inflation. Officials in Simi Valley said they, too, are looking for equity.

The Sheriff’s Department gets two-thirds of the $40-million pot generated locally each year by the half-cent sales tax for law enforcement approved by state voters in 1993. That compares with the 4% split among six city police agencies.

State law requires that the county get the lion’s share of money. But Tracy and Gonzales say it is time to revisit the issue to find out whether a more equitable allocation is possible.

“What’s fair is fair,” Gonzales said.

Local police officials contend that California voters were misled into believing money would be distributed equally among county and city police agencies.

But cities do not get a fair share of the money, even though a good portion of the sales tax is generated in their auto malls and shopping centers, critics say.

“I’m not trying to pit the local police against the county,” Tracy said. “But the intent of 172 was to add resources across the board. That hasn’t happened.”

Officials in Ventura County’s close-knit law enforcement community are careful not to criticize Sheriff Bob Brooks or the way he runs his sprawling department. Several police officials noted that Proposition 172 money has allowed the sheriff to offer expanded services to cities, such as staffing a second county jail, improving helicopter units and forming a special crime suppression force that is available to cities.

But their frustrations spill over when they see sheriff’s deputies whipping by in new, high-performance cruisers while city police officers chug along in aging vehicles. The Sheriff’s Department has added 175 deputies in the last six years, expanding its force by 30% to 764. Its budget swelled even faster, growing 79% to $123.4 million for the fiscal year that ends June 30.

Meanwhile, the Santa Paula Police Department is so strapped for cash that it can’t afford to soundproof its suspect interview room. Gonzales celebrated his recent appointment as chief by buying his own office furniture. Some of the city’s police cars are so old, you can hear them coming a block away, he said. And the number of sworn officers--29--is the same as when Gonzales joined the Santa Paula force 26 years ago, when the city was smaller.

“We have a lot less money and lot less ability to provide the services we want to provide,” Gonzales said.

Brooks knows his department’s good fortune has made it a target for criticism. But he makes no apology. He points to the falling crime rate countywide, increased jail capacity and new crime prevention programs as evidence the money has been well spent.

Crime has fallen for seven straight years, reaching levels not recorded since 1969. There were 10,000 fewer crimes--including 1,100 fewer homicides, rapes, robberies and felony assaults--in the county last year than in 1991, though 62,000 more people live here today.

Brooks says critics aren’t taking into account that Proposition 172’s distribution formula is based on the amount of property tax money that was shifted away from cities and counties in the early 1990s--billions of dollars annually statewide.

Simi Valley, Thousand Oaks, Moorpark and Camarillo, for instance, receive no Proposition 172 dollars because they did not lose any of the property tax revenue on which the formula is based. Ventura, Oxnard, Santa Paula, Port Hueneme, Fillmore and Ojai receive small distributions in proportion to the amount of property tax revenue shifted away by the state beginning in 1992. Counties get the biggest chunk of Proposition 172 money because they took the biggest hit during the state raids, Brooks said.

“It didn’t make perfect legislation,” he said. “But it was meant to remedy money that was lost.” Sheriffs, district attorneys and police chiefs joined forces in 1993 to push for passage of the proposition to make up for the lost property taxes, said Al Cooper, a Sacramento sheriff’s official who was then a lobbyist for the California State Sheriffs Assn. Money generated from the half-cent sales tax was to be spent on public safety, although that was not clearly defined. Subsequent legislation spelled out how the money would be distributed, with the lion’s share going to counties, Cooper said. “The police chiefs at the time agreed to the distribution,” he said. “Everyone felt it was fair.”

Big Support for Measure

The measure passed easily in Ventura County, with 58% of the vote--a remarkable victory in a county where voters loathe hiking their taxes.

County supervisors were given discretion to decide what county agencies would fall under the public safety umbrella. Ventura County’s supervisors approved an ordinance guaranteeing that the money would go to the sheriff, district attorney, public defender, probation and fire services.

Their decision was prompted by a 1995 petition drive--headed by former Sheriff Larry Carpenter and Dist. Atty. Michael D. Bradbury--after supervisors diverted $1.2 million of the law enforcement money to the medical examiner’s office and legal services for children.

They gathered more than 50,000 signatures to qualify the measure for a local ballot, Brooks said. He collected 1,000 signatures himself and is certain voters knew what they were calling for, Brooks added.

“Both the wording of the petition and the ballot were clear,” Brooks said. “There was no attempt to deceive the public.”

Proposition 172 remains controversial in part because a booming economy has resulted in more revenue than expected. Cooper said legislators believed the tax dollars would never climb higher than $1.5 billion annually. But this year, Proposition 172 is expected to rain down $2 billion on California counties.

In the six years since the proposition’s passage, Ventura County has received $204 million. The sheriff’s share of that is $137 million. The amount available has steadily grown.

This year, the Sheriff’s Department received $28 million. Oxnard received $789,000, Ventura $482,000, Santa Paula $151,000 and Port Hueneme $123,000.

Money Used for New Jail

Brooks and his top managers say nearly half of the money has been used to open the Todd Road Jail near Santa Paula. Before Todd Road opened in 1995, the county jail in Ventura was so crowded that the sheriff was forced to release inmates early, said Don Lanquist, who manages the Sheriff’s Department budget.

While cities continue to staff patrol cars with one officer during the more dangerous nighttime shifts, the Sheriff’s Department has added a second nighttime deputy to cruisers in unincorporated areas. The sheriff also beefed up security at the county courthouse and assigned other deputies to special task forces dealing with gangs and narcotics, Lanquist said.

More recently, two deputies were added to regular patrols of Oak Park and other unincorporated areas in the eastern county. Civilian positions were added to keep up with the paperwork generated by an expanded corps of sworn officers.

Extra cash has allowed the sheriff to expand services available to all law enforcement agencies, Lanquist said. Police departments have at their disposal the sheriff’s helicopters, bomb squad, dive team and a crime lab, which was recently approved to perform DNA testing.

Still, local city government leaders have joined police in recent years in calling for a greater share of the sales tax bounty. Some of the criticism has come from city officials in Camarillo, which contracts with the Sheriff’s Department for police services. The sheriff also holds contracts with the cities of Thousand Oaks, Moorpark, Fillmore and Ojai.

Camarillo council members in 1994 demanded that some of the county’s money be used to hire more officers for their city. But the county turned Camarillo and the other contract cities down, insisting that the Sheriff’s Department was obligated only to provide the staffing levels spelled out in its contracts. That allowed the department to use most of its Proposition 172 windfall for the unincorporated areas of the county under the sheriff’s jurisdiction.

In response, then-Sheriff Carpenter formed the Crime Suppression Unit in 1996. The 10 deputies that make up the unit are available to cities on demand, Lanquist said.

The unit has helped carry out gang sweeps, patrolled city streets while police officers are in training and assisted in special operations. Last year, for instance, the unit joined the Ventura Police Department to patrol the city when hundreds of Hells Angels bikers massed there for a 50th anniversary rally.

Goodwill Gesture From Sheriff

Brooks sees the formation of the unit, which costs $1 million a year to operate, as a goodwill gesture to the cities.

“Knowing the funding situation, we have tried to do everything we can to support the cities,” Brooks said. “We see this as a law enforcement family.”

Although the sheriff is entitled to 67% of total Proposition 172 disbursements, the department usually spends closer to 60%, Brooks said. The rest is returned to a trust fund where the county’s other public safety agencies can use it, he said.

The district attorney’s office, which gets about 7% of the tax dollars, has added 22 prosecutors and nearly doubled its budget since it began receiving the sales tax money. The extra money allows the district attorney to more aggressively litigate death penalty cases, said Greg Totten, chief assistant district attorney.

The office is also prosecuting more domestic violence and elder abuse cases and has beefed up services for crime victims, Totten said.

The Probation Agency, which receives 9% of the Proposition 172 money, has added 55 probation officers, allowing it to better monitor criminals after they leave jail, and started a domestic violence unit.

And Public Defender Kenneth I. Clayman nearly doubled his budget to $7 million and hired 11 more deputy public defenders. The office, which gets 3% of Proposition 172 funding, hired a Spanish interpreter last year to help with the hundreds of clients and witnesses who speak that language, Clayman said.

“We have not started any new programs as a result of 172,” he said. “But it’s helped us keep up.”

The county’s Fire Department is also entitled to a portion of the sales tax dollars but has received just one allocation--$565,000--in the last six years.

Not all city police chiefs are criticizing the distribution of dollars. Oxnard Police Chief Art Lopez said Brooks has been “very fair” about providing additional services to cities. While he won’t approach Sacramento looking for change, Lopez said he would be interested in being part of a countywide effort to discuss whether other services can be provided to cities.

“We need to sit down at the table with all of the chiefs and the sheriff and be right up front with how we will deal with this,” Lopez said. “We owe that to him.”

Cities Look for Equity

Simi Valley Police Chief Randy Adams says the issue should be hashed out by city councils and the county Board of Supervisors. City Manager Mike Sedell said he would look for a more equitable distribution in the future.

“In the long term, we certainly will be watching it and looking for equity,” Sedell said.

Thousand Oaks “is not going to go to war over it,” but is in favor of any change that would benefit cities, said Finance Director Robert Biery. About $10 million in Proposition 172 money is raised in Thousand Oaks every year, Biery said.

Sacramento lobbyist Cooper predicted that any attempt to change the allocation formula would face a fierce challenge from counties.

“It would take legislation and it would be one hell of a fight,” Cooper said.

However, counties might soften their position if the state agrees to return all of the $4 billion a year in property taxes that it took from counties and cities beginning in 1992, Cooper said.

Brooks doesn’t dispute that city police agencies need more money. But cities need to find their own funding source, he said.

“A change in the Proposition 172 allocation formula is not the solution,” he said.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Prop. 172

Ventura County has received $203.9 million in public safety dollars in the six years since Proposition 172 was enacted.

Distribution of Prop. 172 dollars

District Attorney: 7.4%

Probation Agency: 9%

City Police Departments: 3.7%

Sheriff’s Department: 67%

Public Defender: 3.3%

Other: 8.9%

Total received from state: $203.9 million

Departmental Differences

Growth in Ventura County’s law enforcement agencies has varied widely in the six years since Proposition 172 was enacted. Most city police departments have seen little or no expansion, while the Sheriff’s Department has increased its number of sworn officers by 30% and its budget by 79%.

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Sworn Sworn Budget Budget officers officers ‘92-93 ‘98-99 Police agencies ‘92-93 ‘98-99 (millions) (millions) Oxnard 147 197 $18.7 $25.4 Port Hueneme 21 21 $2.1 $3.0 Ventura 122 124 $14.2 $16.4 Santa Paula 29 29 $3.0 $3.0 Simi Valley 110 116 $14.4 $16.0 Sheriff’s Dept* 589 764 $68.9 $123.4

Prop. 172 dollars as % of Police agencies ‘98-99 budget Oxnard 3% Port Hueneme 4% Ventura 3% Santa Paula 3% Simi Valley 0% Sheriff’s Dept* 23%

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* The Sheriff’s Department patrols Fillmore, Ojai, Moorpark, Camarillo, Thousand Oaks and unincorporated areas. In addition, it runs the two county jails and provides other services to city police agencies.