District may add to big ballot
Later this month Placentia-Yorba Linda school district trustees are expected to place a $195 million bond measure on the Feb. 5 presidential primary ballot, helping make 2008 one of this city’s busiest election years ever.
Three ballots with local issues and candidates are slated next year, including the February and June primaries and the November general election. Only the four ballots in 1970, involving one special and three regular elections, drew voters to the polls more often.
A “campaign for kids”-type organization will promote the school district’s second bond debt measure in six years this fall, aiming to win the 55 percent majority required to sell bonds to finance new construction, modernization, technology and career education.
The district’s property owners in Yorba Linda and Placentia and parts of Anaheim, Brea, Fullerton and county territory would pay the bonds’ principal and interest costs, an estimated annual $29.90 per $100,000 of assessed valuation for a 25-year period.
Final payment for $102 million in bonds sold after a successful 2002 vote, which added $32 per $100,000 of assessed valuation to yearly property tax payments, is set for 2029.
The Measure Y bond passed 18,300 to 9,435, despite the City Council’s 3-2 vote to table an endorsement at a time of bitter feelings over the school district’s successful lawsuit to retrieve tax revenues promised by the city’s Redevelopment Agency.
Two weeks after the election, Councilman Allen Castellano said, “[T]he school district committed fraud when they promised to build a high school without even having the intent to do so, and…only used a high school to ensure that Measure Y would pass,” according to council meeting minutes.
But those harsh words were put aside when Mayor Castellano was invited to play a major role in the Yorba Linda High School groundbreaking last April, and new council members may ignore past politics when they consider supporting the proposed bond.
All five school trustees endorsed incumbent Keri Wilson and Yorba Linda trustees Karin Freeman and Jan Wagner also endorsed candidate Doug Dickerson over winners John Anderson and Jan Horton last year.
Superintendent Dennis Smith made a first-ever personal endorsement of Dickerson and Wilson in the hotly contested race, but only Freeman endorsed Wilson in her failed comeback bid against winner Hank Wedaa in June.
A FINAL NOTE
Attendance at the second Town Hall gathering July 31 peaked at 82, counting all five council members and about 15 officials from the city and other public agencies. The first forum on Jan. 2 drew 48, including two council members and a half-dozen city staffers.
After two city-led informational presentations, audience members peppered officials with questions and gripes about a westside development proposal, street sweeping, crime, train issues, skateboarding teens and Brea police response policies, among other matters.
The session was a success in terms of residents bypassing the usual bureaucratic channels to bring issues directly to top city leaders, but the council taking action on the legitimate concerns raised by residents will determine the event’s true value.
Three ballots with local issues and candidates are slated next year, including the February and June primaries and the November general election. Only the four ballots in 1970, involving one special and three regular elections, drew voters to the polls more often.
A “campaign for kids”-type organization will promote the school district’s second bond debt measure in six years this fall, aiming to win the 55 percent majority required to sell bonds to finance new construction, modernization, technology and career education.
The district’s property owners in Yorba Linda and Placentia and parts of Anaheim, Brea, Fullerton and county territory would pay the bonds’ principal and interest costs, an estimated annual $29.90 per $100,000 of assessed valuation for a 25-year period.
Final payment for $102 million in bonds sold after a successful 2002 vote, which added $32 per $100,000 of assessed valuation to yearly property tax payments, is set for 2029.
The Measure Y bond passed 18,300 to 9,435, despite the City Council’s 3-2 vote to table an endorsement at a time of bitter feelings over the school district’s successful lawsuit to retrieve tax revenues promised by the city’s Redevelopment Agency.
Two weeks after the election, Councilman Allen Castellano said, “[T]he school district committed fraud when they promised to build a high school without even having the intent to do so, and…only used a high school to ensure that Measure Y would pass,” according to council meeting minutes.
But those harsh words were put aside when Mayor Castellano was invited to play a major role in the Yorba Linda High School groundbreaking last April, and new council members may ignore past politics when they consider supporting the proposed bond.
All five school trustees endorsed incumbent Keri Wilson and Yorba Linda trustees Karin Freeman and Jan Wagner also endorsed candidate Doug Dickerson over winners John Anderson and Jan Horton last year.
Superintendent Dennis Smith made a first-ever personal endorsement of Dickerson and Wilson in the hotly contested race, but only Freeman endorsed Wilson in her failed comeback bid against winner Hank Wedaa in June.
A FINAL NOTE
Attendance at the second Town Hall gathering July 31 peaked at 82, counting all five council members and about 15 officials from the city and other public agencies. The first forum on Jan. 2 drew 48, including two council members and a half-dozen city staffers.
After two city-led informational presentations, audience members peppered officials with questions and gripes about a westside development proposal, street sweeping, crime, train issues, skateboarding teens and Brea police response policies, among other matters.
The session was a success in terms of residents bypassing the usual bureaucratic channels to bring issues directly to top city leaders, but the council taking action on the legitimate concerns raised by residents will determine the event’s true value.
posted by Jim Drummond at 12:00 PM
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