Tax Increases a Big Fear as Cityhood Bid Intensifies

Newhall homeowner Kathleen Tibbitts’ reaction was fairly typical of residents who were asked Saturday to sign petitions proposing that her community and four others in the Santa Clarita Valley be merged into one sprawling city.

“I’ve heard talk about cityhood, but I’m still a little leery,” the silver-haired woman said when she opened her door to City Feasibility Committee volunteer Carl Boyer. “I’m scared my taxes will go up.”

Boyer, a San Fernando High School government teacher who lives in Newhall, was one of about 70 volunteers who went door to door as part of a daylong Valleywide blitz to speed up the committee’s signature-gathering process. Signature gathering was also under way in Canyon County, Castaic, Valencia and Saugus, the other communities that would be in the new city.

Boyer assured Tibbitts and others he approached that, under state law, a new city cannot impose any taxes unless two-thirds of the voters approve the increase in an election.

19 Signatures

In the end, Tibbitts and 18 others approached by Boyer during two hours of the blitz signed the petition. Only two people refused to sign the document.

Before Saturday, the committee had collected about 4,000 signatures on petitions since Jan. 2. Louis Garasi, committee co-chairman, said only seven people, who gathered a total of 258 signatures, had turned in their petitions by late Saturday afternoon.

“Many of our volunteers found people were not at home and wanted to keep their petitions and try again in the evening or sometime Sunday,” Garasi said. “So, I guess we’ve extended the blitz through Sunday.”

He said a tally of signatures gathered during the effort will not be available until Monday.

About 13,000 signatures--25% of the registered voters in the area--are needed before the proposal for incorporation will be considered by the Los Angeles County Local Agency Formation Commission, known as LAFCO.

Originally, cityhood proponents had sought to gather enough signatures in time to get the issue on the November ballot, but leaders of the drive recently acknowledged that the committee would not meet that deadline.

Approval Needed

Although cityhood backers have six months to meet a state-mandated deadline for filing the petitions in time for the election in April, 1987, they would like to speed up the process to give LAFCO more time to consider the cityhood proposal.

LAFCO’s approval is needed before the proposal can go before the Board of Supervisors. The board would hold a public hearing. If 50% of the affected area’s registered voters do not file protests, the supervisors would then place the proposal on the ballot.

Boyer, who before Saturday had turned in 320 signatures, said the questions most often asked by voters concern taxes.

“People don’t really understand where the money comes from to form a city,” he said. He said that cities get a portion of local property taxes as well as a portion of the fees the state charges for car licenses, sales taxes and other local taxes.

After taxes, Boyer said police protection is what people want to know about.

“When I tell them they still will be receiving service from the Sheriff’s Department, most are satisfied,” he said.

About 90% of those he has approached have signed the petition, Boyer said. He said those who refuse usually don’t even want to discuss the issue with him. “I don’t try to argue with them,” he said. “You can assume their minds are already made up.”

Once people begin asking questions about cityhood they usually end up signing, Boyer added.

People don’t always ask questions, however. Stefanie Barber, the first voter who answered Boyer’s knock Saturday, immediately put her signature on the petition.

“I’ve been for this for a long time,” she said. “We need it. We need local government instead of being controlled by downtown officials.”

Another voter, Timothy Thometz, told Boyer that he had “a million questions” but said that he is generally in favor of cityhood and would not ask the questions now.

‘We Need Control’

“We need control over some of this development,” he said, signing the petition without another word.

Despite her misgivings, Johanna Peter signed the petition but she was still shaking her head as she did so.

“I don’t know if we’ll be able to handle it up here,” she said.

When told that her taxes could not be raised without a two-thirds vote, Peter said, “I know that’s what they say.”

Taxes also were on the minds of about 100 residents who attended the first public informational meeting on cityhood Wednesday night at Saugus High School.

In answer to a question about the issue, panelist Ruth Benell, a LAFCO executive officer, tried to reassure residents that under Proposition 13, approved by voters in 1978, cities can levy additional taxes only for a special purpose approved by two-thirds of the voters in an election.

Benell also said property tax questions are the most common ones asked by voters who live in an area seeking cityhood.

“The mere fact of incorporation is not going to increase your property tax level,” she assured voters.

Many people addressed their questions to panelist Fran Pavley, mayor pro tem of Agoura Hills, which became an incorporated city in 1982. They wanted to know things such as how much city council members are paid and how developers get their projects approved.

Answered Question

Pavley, a seventh-grade teacher who served as mayor of her city during its first two years of existence, said Agoura Hills council members are paid $150 a month, a figure that appeared to satisfy the questioner.

She said if cityhood becomes a reality in the Santa Clarita Valley, developers will present their proposals before a locally elected city council in a public forum instead of by a government body that meets in the day time 35 or 40 miles away.

“Local city-government control means meetings at night open to everyone,” she said. “It means constant communication with residents by city officials. I can’t go to the supermarket on Saturday without someone offering an opinion on some local issue.”