Most area measures seem likely to pass

Voters in four Southern California counties were giving a warm reception to an array of local tax measures Tuesday, preserving a handful of telephone utility taxes and giving the edge to half a dozen school construction bonds, according to early returns.

With voter turnout buoyed by the presidential primary campaign, the city of Los Angeles saw Proposition S, a $243-million telephone tax seen as the last defense against a faltering economy, winning by nearly 2 to 1, partial results showed. Three other cities in addition to Los Angeles had placed telephone taxes on the ballot in an attempt to make them invulnerable to a legal challenge.

Huntington Park residents overwhelmingly supported Measure B, a communications users tax that was seeing support from 4 out of 5 voters. And Measure D, a telephone tax in Pasadena that would generate $10 million annually, was passing by a large margin.

In other contests, voters reviewed a measure to restrict roosters in Riverside, a proposal for a new City Hall in Newport Beach and a trio of term-limit measures. Voters in southern Los Angeles County also chose Democrat Warren Furutani, a Los Angeles Community College District board member, to fill the 55th Assembly District seat left vacant by the election of Assemblywoman Laura Richardson (D-Long Beach) to Congress last year.

In Los Angeles, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa thanked voters for supporting Proposition S but warned that the city faced dire financial straits even with the passage of the tax. But L.A. Police Chief William J. Bratton, who played a pivotal role in the campaign, said voters sent a message about the need to reduce crime and continue hiring police officers.

“This vote shows that Angelenos understand the strides we have made in public safety,” said Bratton, who appeared in 15-second television spots and campaign mailers for Proposition S.

Villaraigosa raised $3 million for the measure, compared with $5,100 collected by foes of the tax, who relied primarily on free media. Proposition S opponent Walter Moore said deceptive ballot language, such as the decision to sell Proposition S as a tax cut, helped fuel the strong returns for the telephone tax.

“The proponents got away with it by fooling people who showed up for the presidential primary but don’t really pay attention to local politics,” he said.

While cities worked to keep their phone taxes on the books, three local school districts were seeing their school construction bond measures head to victory, early returns showed.

Voters in the Long Beach Community College District were passing the $440-million Measure E. In San Gabriel, voters were favoring the $65-million bond Measure A. And in Redondo Beach, voters were supporting Measure C, a $145-million school bond to modernize classrooms.

Measure R, an education parcel tax in the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District, was narrowly gaining the two-thirds vote needed for passage, according to partial returns. The one local bond measure that was trailing was Measure V, a $46-million bond measure in the Acton-Agua Dulce Unified School District.

Taxes were not the only measures on the local ballot. In Inglewood, voters were turning back Measure F, which sought to prohibit the public from buying or using fireworks. And in Downey, voters were overwhelmingly rejecting a measure to weaken term limits for the City Council.

In O.C., voters were rejecting a proposal to build 224 homes on land currently used as recreational open space. But they favored a $200-million school bond in the Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District and a plan to build a City Hall complex in Newport Beach.

In Santa Ana, two measures to weaken term limits -- one for council members, another for city commissioners -- were headed to victory, according to early results. In the special election to fill a vacant board seat in the Anaheim Union High School District, Jordan Brandman was the top vote-getter early.

In the Inland Empire, voters in Riverside were passing a measure to restrict the number of roosters residents can keep in certain agricultural zones. Voters in the Wildomar area of Riverside County were backing a proposal to incorporate and elect a city council.

In the city of San Bernardino, a proposal to rewrite a utility tax was passing handily, according to preliminary results. So were a $500-million bond measure in the San Bernardino County Community College District and school bond measures in Upland and Redlands, according to early returns.

--

david.zahniser@latimes.com

Times staff writers Duke Helfand and Christian Berthelsen contributed to this story.