Tax Initiative Proposed for Santa Paula

To bolster police and fire services, Santa Paula City Manager Wally Bobkiewicz has proposed putting a utility tax on the November ballot that could cost households up to $462 a year.

Bobkiewicz will ask the City Council next week to end talks with the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department, which had been examining the cost of taking over law enforcement responsibilities in the city. Residents have expressed strong support for maintaining the city’s own police force.

Talks with the Sheriff’s Department began after a January audit concluded that the city’s 31-officer department was inefficient and underfunded.

According to the audit, an additional $2.3 million a year is needed to ensure adequate funding for the Police Department, which has a budget of $4.2 million. The extra money would be used to purchase new equipment, hire additional workers and offer more competitive salaries to officers, who are among the lowest-paid in the region.

“We need to make sure that Santa Paula doesn’t fall behind in providing quality law enforcement,” Bobkiewicz said. “We have it now. We just have to make sure it happens in the future.”

In a proposal to be presented to the council Monday, Bobkiewicz asks that a public survey to gauge support on taxation options be conducted until June 14. The council can then make a decision June 16 on whether to put the tax initiative on the ballot. It must act by July 1.

Bobkiewicz’s plan recommends that the tax remain in place for five years and that the measure contain a guarantee that funds would be used exclusively for public safety. The tax initiative would have to pass by a two-thirds vote.

It calls for $1.7 million to be raised yearly for police services and $1.87 million for fire services, although it suggests continuing talks with the Ventura County Fire Department for now to see if it is feasible to take over firefighting services.

For the Police Department, that money would add seven officers, one lieutenant, a 30% salary and benefit increase for current staff, radio system upgrades and four new vehicles a year.

For the Fire Department, additions would include full staffing for a second station and a 40% increase in salaries and benefits.

Bobkiewicz suggests levying either a tax of up to 10.5% on utilities or adding a surcharge of up to $5.50 a month per utility. That could add up to $462 a year for someone paying for gas, electric, telephone, cable television, water, sewer and trash, his proposal says.

Although it would cost about $200,000 more for the Police Department to stay autonomous rather than contract with the sheriff, Bobkiewicz believes residents want their own police force.

Keeping the Fire Department autonomous would be costlier, Bobkiewicz said. The county has suggested it could offer the same level of service for an additional $450,000, rather than the $1.87 million called for in his plan.

He isn’t worried about the prospect of a third levy on the ballot for Santa Paula residents. Two countywide sales tax proposals -- one earmarked for open space and the other for transportation -- are also headed for the ballot.

“We’re going to try very hard to show specifically where [residents’ tax] money is going to go,” Bobkiewicz said. “We’ll be able to point to the police and the firefighters. They’ll have names and faces.”