Voters May Be Polled on Levy

The Ventura County Transportation Commission on Friday will consider spending $35,000 to determine whether voters are willing to raise the sales tax by half a cent to pay for long-delayed road projects, including widening California 23 in Thousand Oaks and the 118 Freeway in Simi Valley.

If the commission agrees to fund a public opinion poll -- and if voters appear frustrated enough by growing gridlock to increase the sales tax -- the issue would be placed on next November’s ballot, commission Chairman Keith Millhouse said.

That the commission would be forced to turn to residents to pay for transportation projects normally covered by the state reflects growing frustration among local leaders with the fiscal crisis in Sacramento that has put most major road projects on hold indefinitely. The financial gridlock comes at a time when the car-dependent state population of 35 million is expected to nearly double in 40 years.

“We have to take matters into our own hands if we want to get these projects built in any reasonable length of time,” said Millhouse, who is also a Moorpark councilman.

“It’s a fairly painless way of raising money. Most counties already have a sales tax portion that goes to transit. I think there will be a lot of support for it. The money will stay in the community.”

The proposed tax would raise about $50 million a year, Millhouse said. The county sales tax is now 7.25%, compared with 8.25% in Los Angeles County, where 1% goes toward transit needs.

Voters in Riverside County recently approved a half-cent sales tax hike to pay for transit costs and Orange County voters OKd the same amount after three attempts, Millhouse said.

But Don Facciano, chairman of the Ventura County Taxpayers Assn., said the commission should not be appealing to residents who are already paying taxes to the state for road construction projects.

What’s more, he said, the state is looking at increasing the sales tax by half a cent, and the Board of Supervisors is considering placing a one-eighth-cent sales tax hike on next November’s ballot to buy open space.

“The timing is poor and overall the idea is poor,” Facciano said.

“They already have enough money through normal channels to pay for what they have to build.... We’re paying the penalty for the problems of the state Legislature, which is the root of the problem.”

Ventura County transportation officials estimate that at the current rate of funding, the widening of California 23 would not be completed until 2017 and the first phase of the 118 Freeway widening project would not be completed until 2022.

The second phase of the 118 project -- from Tapo Canyon Road to New Los Angeles Avenue -- would not be finished until 2040, according to the most conservative estimate, and the widening of Lewis Road in Camarillo to Cal State Channel Islands would be delayed until 2020.

Widening portions of the Ventura Freeway in Ventura County would not start until 2085, according to a commission staff report.