Stanton Officials Look to Extend City’s Utility Tax

When the Stanton City Council implemented a utility tax in 1993, the move was controversial enough that it nearly cost two city councilmen their elected jobs.

The 5% tax on gas and electric service in Stanton lingered as an issue in the small, north-central Orange County city for several years. It triggered a recall attempt on the council members who supported the tax, and it emerged as a theme--right along with prostitution and gang violence--in the city’s 1994 elections.

Now city leaders are urging residents to extend the utility tax, and opposition to it appears to have ebbed. There’s not even an argument against the tax--on the ballot as Measure A--printed in the voter’s guide for Tuesday’s election.

In fact, some longtime residents say it was the tax money--as much as $1.5 million a year--that helped pay for the extra police muscle that drove the prostitutes off the streets and targeted the gangs.

“I’m worried about our city if we don’t get the tax passed,” Mayor William C. Estrada said. “I think about what we’re going to see in a year or two. I think the work we’ve done in the last eight years will be gone. People will start screaming about crime rates going up and property values going down.”

Over the past decade, the crime rate in Stanton plunged 66%, the largest drop of any Orange County city during that period, according to FBI figures. Estrada attributes much of that drop to the utility tax, which accounts for 13% of the city’s $11.5-million general fund budget. Stanton, patrolled by sheriff’s deputies, spends 75% of its general fund on police and fire services.

“Since we started that utility tax, we’ve become a safer community,” said Stella Cox, director of the Stanton Neighborhood Center, which has programs for children, seniors and pregnant mothers. “This tax is our whole future. We’re losing a lot of programs.”

The city has already adopted an emergency budget that would be implemented Nov. 30 if the voters reject the tax. That budget would cut four police positions (more than 10% of the force) and five full-time and two part-time city employees--23% of the city staff.

Among the programs that would be dumped under the emergency budget are graffiti removal, free ambulance service and youth outreach, which targets gang prevention and at-risk youths.

Not everyone believes a utility tax is the best way to pay for city services. Bruce Whitaker, who helped lead a repeal of a utility tax in Fullerton, said the Stanton vote might be closer than officials think.

“It’s an interesting time as we’re heading into a recession and we’re asked to give in so many other different areas,” he said. “I think they might be surprised at what the voters do. Instinctively, people might say: ‘I gave at the office already. I don’t need to give anymore.’ ”

The tax vote has become necessary after eight years because of a recent state Supreme Court ruling in a La Habra case that determined that local taxes not approved by voters are illegal.