Test of Time Shows Wisdom of Prop. 13

Re “Cities Can Get a Better Deal -- Without Killing Prop. 13” by William J. Fulton, Opinion, July 18: With term limits “terminating” the institutional memory of the state Legislature, those in for the long haul (lobbyists and bureaucrats) are now running the state’s funding mechanisms for their own petty agendas and in their own narrow interests.

Additionally, those “professional” politicians being elected to the Legislature under term limits now face virtually no long-term political penalties for serving only those individuals and organizations that contribute to their campaign coffers because they will not be at the Capitol long enough to pay for their ineptitude and indiscretions.

What we Californians really need is to repeal term limits and elect senators and Assembly members who are willing to roll up their sleeves, put petty bickering behind and do the rational thing -- fix the state’s revenue-sharing system so that local politicians, such as council member Fulton, will have the resource security needed to address local community needs.

Brian Lee Rencher

Ventura

If you’re whining about lost revenue, don’t blame Howard Jarvis.

Hundreds of families lost homes of 30 or 40 years because they couldn’t keep up with pre-Proposition 13 property taxes.

Were it not for Jarvis, our 25-year home in Fountain Valley would be assessed at six times what we paid for it.

Our tax bill would be tough on senior small earners or, in my wife’s case, retirees.

I am not a taxpayer guerrilla out to savage school funds, and I respond favorably to tax initiatives that add to our schools’ pressing needs.

But if there were no Prop. 13, my family could not afford to live here, let alone pony up some dollars for our community’s schools, public safety and infrastructure.

Tom Sloss

Fountain Valley