City Conducting library tax measure phone survey

We saw some reports here on SCVTalk of phone calls to SCV residents concerning a possible library tax measure last week. Eagle-eared SCVTalk reader LVogel posted this last Friday:

Anyone else get a call yesterday (or recently) regarding a survey to find out how you would vote if the LSSI issue was brought to a city ballot? I did! It’s never easy taking these calls, but I do and I often have the caller repeat several questions; which I did with this. One ballot question he mentioned: that the city may lower the taxes, yet provide more services , would I vote yes. How can that be? Longer hours, more books, kids tutoring, gang intervention programs (yes, that was one of the ‘improvements’) and better/more staff.

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I’ve gotten these type of ‘survey’ calls before regarding other possible ballot measures. He did make a point of saying if it were to come to a vote within the SCV, they were asking questions to see how and why I would vote/not vote on this library issue. As I said, there were a lot of questions and scenerios, but the scenerio that stuck out was that our taxes would be lowered yet they would offer longer hours and more programs.

I just asked the City about this and they confirm that they are conducting a phone survey. However, the survey is not concerned with the takeover of the library system by the City or LSSI, rather, it’s a poll to “determine voter support for a measure to replace the existing library tax with a reduced library tax for City voters,” according to Gail Ortiz.

In other words, the City sounds like its no longer so confident in its prediction that the County’s special library tax -passed by Santa Clarita voters in 1997- will be available to it to fund the future Santa Clarita Public library system. The tax funds SCV libraries to the tune of $1.4 million or so a year and during that crucial August 24th Council meeting, staff felt certain they could get their hands on it. Because Carl Newton said so.

Interestingly, the wording of the survey and the City’s brief statement says whatever tax the city is hoping for would be less than the tax residents are paying now. And as LVogel reports, in return for a new but lower-than-the-existing tax, they’re promising increased services.

It’s a complicated message for a phone survey, to be sure. An average apathetic SCVer might not know what to think. “A new tax? Hell no! Oh, it’s lower than the old tax? Okay so it’s a tax cut? No? Well then what is it?”

My bet is that if the City explained this effectively they’d be able to pass it quite easily. I’m not certain if this type of vote requires more than a majority vote (some of the school bond measures require more than a simple majority), but SCVers generally have no problem taxing themselves for schools. Libraries are in the same vein.

Chalk this development up as another “oops” in the City’s takeover plan, hatched and implemented so quickly in the last six months. First it was the shock of the Canyon Country library closing, then the lawsuits, then the $622,000 (or is it $1.2 million?) deal to reopen the Canyon Country library and now this: a possible new tax measure coming to Santa Claritans in the near future, just as we get the keys to our three libraries.