Laguna Will Vote on Slide Repair Tax

With no signs of an organized opposition, Laguna Beach city officials remain optimistic that residents will vote Tuesday to approve a sales tax increase to help rebuild a collapsed Bluebird Canyon hillside.

If the special election measure passes, the half-cent-on-the-dollar increase will raise $10.2 million over six years and be used, in part, to repair the slope that gave way June 1, destroying or damaging 20 homes.

“I think most people understand the need for it,” said City Manager Kenneth C. Frank. “Bluebird’s going to be put back up regardless of what happens to the sales tax. The council has already committed to it. The only question is where is the money going to come from.”

And if some residents aren’t planning to back the sales tax hike, few are willing to say so openly.

Laguna’s two local papers have been thick with letters of support. City Council members have been making the rounds of community groups, urging approval.

Rudy Campos, 65, thinks city officials might be in for a surprise. Campos, a longtime Laguna Beach resident who runs Wally’s Barber Shop downtown, said his informal poll of customers found people divided 50-50 on the issue.

“A lot of people seem to think it’ll pass without a problem, but I think it’s going to be a close one,” he said.

The city has already trimmed spending as it scraped together $7 million to stabilize the slope to prevent more homes from sliding this winter. Bluebird Canyon Creek, which becomes a major drainage channel in the winter, also had to be cleared of dirt and debris.

Restoring Flamingo Road, also destroyed in the landslide, and other public facilities will cost an additional $8 million. Even with the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s announcement last month that it would chip in about $5 million to help replace roads, storm drains, sewers and water lines, city officials say the tax is needed.

Without it, Frank said, the city would probably have to sell real estate, forgo filling jobs and put off purchasing a fire engine, police cars and a street sweeper. Roadwork and other capital improvements would also be put on hold.

Jinger Wallace plans to vote for the sales tax because without it, she fears the city will continue gutting its open space fund and other programs.

If opposition to the measure seems muted, it’s because of how the tax debate has been framed, said Gene Felder.

“Instead of being an open political debate, the people that are for it have claimed they’re the compassionate good people, and if you’re going to verbalize that you’re against it, you have to take the risk of being seen as cheap and uncompassionate,” said Felder, 59.

Should the measure pass, the city’s sales tax would increase from 7.75% to 8.25%