Hufford Can’t Budge Ventura in Tax Fight

In a visit he described as “holding out an olive branch,” county chief administrator Harry Hufford asked the Ventura City Council to postpone a vote to withhold sales tax revenue from the county, a request the council denied.

“We should try to resolve this so it doesn’t evolve into another turf war,” Hufford said, after telling the council at its Monday meeting that he wanted to hear more about their concerns before they voted to change the city’s sales tax law.

Hufford’s visit appeared to surprise the panel. Mayor Sandy Smith said he was glad a representative of Ventura County showed up.

No one from the county appeared the previous week, when the council in a preliminary action voted 7 to 0 to withhold about $572,000, which city officials said was needed to fix streets. For decades, all cities in the county except Ojai have given the county one-third of 1% of their sales tax revenues.

While Ventura’s funds are a tiny percentage of the county’s proposed $1-billion budget, county officials fear that other cities will follow suit, potentially leaving the cash-strapped county $2.5 million poorer. It has threatened to retaliate by repealing the countywide sales tax law, leaving the entire county with little money to pay for services.

Hufford’s visit seemed to soften the hard-line stance of some council members. Councilman Carl Morehouse, who works as a planner for the county, made a motion to delay the vote, pending talks with the county.

But City Manager Donna Landeros said that the city has discussed the move for at least a year and the county has been notified.

Deputy City Atty. Amy Albano added that discussions can still take place if the council approves the law, which will not go into effect for 31 days.

“You can always undo what you’ve done tonight,” Albano said.

Morehouse’s motion failed 4 to 3, followed by a 7-0 vote to keep the money.

“We have a month to work this out,” Smith said. “Hopefully during that time we can come to some agreement on how to work this out.”