County Issue Who should tax whom?

Ventura County supervisors voted to charge cities to book prisoners in the jail and to charge schools and special districts to collect property taxes. State cuts left the county budget $5.8 million short, and the Legislature allowed the fees. Are there alternatives to the fees imposed on cities, schools and special districts?

Maggie Erickson

Ventura County supervisor I don’t know. One of the things that we have done is to put together a coalition of all those entities to sit down with the county and to try to see if there are alternatives. We met a week or so ago and brainstormed all the ideas we could think of. Some of them were financial solutions like finding another tax. Some of them were “cut services” alternatives like: Close the medical center or contract out for it. We also talked about legislative changes where we would look at ways the Legislature could work with us to make more money available. We also looked at restructuring. Is there another way for local government to utilize the money available to us in better ways? Counties are the only entities created by the state and given a mandate by the state for the health, welfare and public safety and then given some money by the state but not enough to carry out the mandate. I think that if we didn’t charge the fees, the state would say why are you coming back to us for more money? Go and do what we gave you permission to do!

Nina Shelley

Ojai mayor The cities and the county met within the last week to discuss that particular question. I suggested early on that the other two provisions of Senate Bill 2557 (the legislation allowing the fees) should be explored by the Board of Supervisors. One is the provision for setting a business license fee for businesses operating in the unincorporated area of the county. The second provision could raise quite a political issue. That provision makes it possible for the county to levy a utility tax on those in the unincorporated area. Some of my other suggestions may or may not be feasible, but one was to explore a fee on real estate sales. Also, inasmuch as our roadways in Ventura County are used by many who do not live in this county, it may be interesting to explore the idea of toll road charges. That was presented somewhat in a tongue-in-cheek fashion; nevertheless, we’re up against it. So those are just a few of the alternatives that came from Ojai, not necessarily popular but neither is the booking fee and certainly not the charge for collecting taxes, which many feel is a double payment.

James F. Cowan

Ventura County superintendent of schools No. I believe the issue is a state issue and not a local issue really, in that I believe the Legislature and the government, by allowing counties to charge this fee, were really shifting a state problem to the local people. Just as counties are short of money, so are the schools. And to allow the county to acquire $3.5 million dollars from the school districts in Ventura County creates an unanticipated shortfall for the schools. The alternative would have been, and may be in the future, for the state to have established priorities and provided the funding to meet those priorities. The alternative for school districts is to do the only thing we can do at the moment, and that is to file a lawsuit, which we will be doing collectively, statewide. We’re trying to make the case that the fees are not a logical charge. Then along with it, of course, we’ll be trying to work with our legislators to see if we can push a legislative proposal to exempt the schools from the fees. How successful we’ll be, I don’t know.

Madge L. Schaefer

Ventura County supervisor The state Legislature did not consult with the counties when they determined these new fees. Counties certainly recognize that local governments have been penalized over and over by the tricks of the state Legislature. The county has taken a very responsible alternative position. We have formed a coalition of cities and special districts to work together for a stable source of funding for all these agencies. Just today I asked the six labor unions involved in county government to join us in a unified voice, demanding that the Legislature stop this kind of activity. The point is the Legislature did not address the problem of mandate with no money. They simply tried to pit one group against another. Instead, those groups are going to join together and take on the Legislature. We’re calling this task force the Ventura Model. Ventura is the only place where the various entities are meeting to work together on this. We have identified the enemy and it is not one another, it is the Legislature.

Grant R. Brimhall

Thousand Oaks city manager Yes, there are alternatives. The most important is that what the state mandates, it ought to pay for. Honestly, openly and completely. That’s why our county is $5 million short or whatever it is. If the state fulfilled its obligation to provide revenues consistent with requirements, then the county really wouldn’t have to balance its budget by taking money from the cities. The state created 457 unbalanced city budgets, because every city in this state had an adopted budget, and two or three months later, guess what folks? Better local cannibalism than the state taking full responsibility. If you look at what was taken away from us in booking fees and costs charged to us in terms of property tax collection, and then on top of that what the state did not provide to the counties--all together you’re talking a chunk of bucks. Fortunately, our city is prudent and is financially solvent. We’re being penalized for our solvency and being adversely affected because we do pay as we go, and unfortunately the state does not.