Council to weigh new tax

After a loud outcry by opponents, the sale of Laguna’s Girl Scout

House was taken off the table by City Council Tuesday -- along with

other city-owned properties -- as a way to raise disaster funds.

Instead, citizens will be asked whether they would rather increase

the city’s sales tax to pay for landslide repairs and other

emergencies.

City officials concluded an emotion-wrought meeting with a

late-night decision to hold a special meeting Sept. 16 to gauge

public support for a tax hike to defray the costs of any disaster

that might strike.

The City Council voted unanimously to take emergency action to

schedule the meeting to consider putting a half-cent increase in the

sales tax on the ballot in mid-December. Emergency action was

dictated by information discovered after the agenda was printed that

indicated that a special election could be called by a unanimous vote

of the council.

“We are not voting for a tax increase,” Mayor Elizabeth

Pearson-Schneider said. “We are voting to let the people decide.”

A tax hike must go to a vote of the people and can be passed by a

simple majority or a two-thirds majority, depending on the wording of

the measure. In general, the tax increase would serve as a safety net

to provide funding in future disasters or emergencies.

“I was quite surprised at the number of people who came [to the

council] calling for us to raise the sales tax to ensure the city has

a super-fund than would provide emergency or disaster funding without

placing an undue burden on our residents or curtailing city services

and projects that benefit everyone,” Pearson-Schneider said.

The council could have voted late in the evening to authorize the

election under emergency rules. However, City Manager Ken Frank

cautioned in the near-empty council chambers that the public needed

to weigh-in on the proposal.

“I think this community cares and will put its money where its

mouth is,” said Bluebird Canyon resident Mary Fegraus, whose home was

not damaged in the slide.

Support for the tax hike bloomed after the council raised the

possibility of funding emergency repairs and winterization projects

in landslide-devastated Bluebird Canyon by selling off city-owned

parcels, including the two lots on which the Girl Scout House has

stood for half a century.

Outraged scout supporters, who mounted a large demonstration at

Main Beach on Labor Day weekend, were pleased by an early and

unanimous council straw vote to keep the lots off the market.

“We got the message,” Councilwoman Cheryl Kinsman told a bevy of

scouts who attended the meeting. “This is how government works.”

However, the decision in keep the Scout House in place does not

bind future councils. And the city is still $1.2 million short of the

estimated $7 million needed for the emergency repairs and slope

winterization.

Al Trevino, whose home was destroyed in the slide, advised the

council to hire a lobbyist and seek assistance from Senator Dianne

Feinstein.

“She is powerful, and we have to use that resource,” Trevino said.

Frank said the city has a lobbyist on retainer and that he has

been in contact with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which

dealt a blow to the city by denying funding to help recover from the

disaster. The denial is being appealed.

Arnold Hano said the shortfall could be closed if each of the

city’s 25,000 residents kicked in $50.

“I am ready to write a check right now,” Hano said. “I am even

ready to write a check for Bonnie [his wife].”

The council also delayed a decision on the sale of a lot on Poplar

Street that overlooks Irvine Bowl. A subcommittee will work with the

Festival of Arts board on possible mitigation that would prevent

complications for the Pageant of the Masters and other events in the

amphitheater if the lot is sold.

Festival President Anita Mangels also urged further study before

city-owned lots on Olive Street are sold to fund the relocation of

the city maintenance yard to the Act V lot in Laguna Canyon. Those

lots were never considered as a funding source for the emergency

winterization projects in Bluebird Canyon.

Councilwoman Toni Iseman, who does not oppose the sale of the

Olive Street lots, proposed the half-cent tax increase as preferable

to selling other city-owned land to pay for the repairs to the

infrastructure damaged or destroyed by the June 1 Flamingo Road

landslide. The tax would not be used to rebuild homes.

“It has to be clear to people what we are doing and why we are

doing it,” Iseman said.

The tricky part, Iseman said, was opting for a measure that would

require only a majority vote, not a two-thirds vote

“It means we can’t designate what it’s going to pay for,” Iseman

said. “We have to just say, ‘Trust me.’”

Emergency funding for the essential disaster repairs means delays

in projects. Depleting the Open Space Fund leaves the city with no

money to buy key parcels for preservation, probably leading to

development on vacant parcels or future lawsuits against the city,

according to Frank.

The best hope is that the state Office of Emergency Services can

convince FEMA of the error of its ways.

“We will get the money,” Mayor Pro Tem Steven Dicterow said. “FEMA

was just wrong.”

Emergency repairs are estimated to cost $7 million. Permanent

restoration of public facilities is expected to cost an additional $5

million or $8 million.

In slide-related actions, the council also approved the donation

of $950 to James Moore and teacher John Gustafson, who lost their

“Bluebird Haven” home; a $10,000 allocation to help a senior couple

relocate in Laguna Woods; extended the disaster declaration, which

must be renewed every 21 days; and added a clause to demolition

agreements with the displaced families that gives the city right of

first refusal if the property is put on the market.

QUESTION

Should the city raise the sales tax rate to fund disaster relief

in the future? Write us at P.O. Box 248, Laguna Beach, CA, 92652,

e-mail us at [email protected] f7or fax us at 494-8979.

Please give your name and tell us your home address and phone number

for verification purposes only.