Gloves Off in Parcel Tax Debate

By Jorge Casuso

May 15 -- Armed with a list of endorsements, two proponents of the school parcel tax faced off with a lone opponent Wednesday night in an often heated debate that promises to be the only public forum before voters go to the polls June 3.

Sponsored by the League of Women Voters Education Fund, the debate -- which will be aired numerous times on CityTV -- focused on whether Measure S was the most effective and fair way to help bail out the cash-strapped school district.

Proponents of the measure -- which would raise $6.5 million a year for six years -- warned that defeat of the parcel tax would result in the loss of 91 teachers, as well as nurses, librarians, administrators and service personnel. It also would scrap class reduction programs.

“The quality of education we offer our children is at stake,” said Rochelle Lewis-Fanali, a spokesperson for the measure. “Without measure S, our schools would be devastated.”

Opponent Don Gray argued that the funds raised by the tax fall far short of what the district needs to bridge a $13 million budget gap in the upcoming school year.

“It doesn’t provide close to enough money for the schools,” Gray said. “What do we tell the people who won’t be back even if S passes? The fact is a lot of these cuts will take place even if S passes… Why did we sell our kids so cheap?”

Much of the debate focused on the choice of a flat tax that adds $225 a year in property taxes to every parcel in Santa Monica and Malibu.

Proponents of the measure argued that Measure S -- which was recommended by a 52-member committee consisting of a cross section of the community -- was the most equitable, legal and effective way to spread the cost.

“We don’t have many options at our disposal,” Lewis-Fanali said. “Will it fix everything? No. It will restore our teachers and keep class size reduction… It is legally sound, it is balanced and it is fair.”

But Gray, who was a member of the committee, argued that the parcel tax favored well-to-do property owners. A low-income condo owner, he noted, would pay the same amount as the owner of Santa Monica Place or of a mansion north of Montana.

The committee, he charged, was catering to the business community, which they feared would oppose a tax based on square footage, an option that was weighed and discarded.

“We appealed to the business community,” Gray said. “Businesses get off cheap with this… When someone gets a break and doesn’t have to pay, that’s money our kids don’t receive.”

But proponents of the measure adamantly dismissed charges that the flat tax was chosen to appease the business community, which pumped record money into defeating a living wage measure on the November 2002 ballot.

“There was a special interest, and it was the kids in our schools,” Lewis-Fanali said. “There was no manipulation by the business community.”

The decision to recommend that the School Board go with a flat tax, said teachers union president Harry M. Keiley, was “an open process, a democratic process opened up to as many people as wanted to participate.”

Noting that it falls far short of bridging the budget gap, Gray compared Prop S to plugging a hole in a boat to keep it afloat.

Keiley shot back: “We’re all going down. I find it difficult to understand how you can punish the children, the public schools.”

“Good intentions,” Gray said in his closing statement, “don’t run school systems. They’re run on money. It (Measure S) doesn’t cut it. It doesn’t raise enough money. It doesn’t do it in a fair way.”

During the debate, proponents rattled off some of the organizations that endorse the measure, contending that they are part of the “largest coalition in the history of Santa Monica politics.”

The opponents, they noted, have no notable backers, and Gray was the only opponent who participated in the debate.

“I’m hard to work with,” Gray responded when asked why he was not joined by a second participant. “I would step on more toes than I would avoid.”

The airtimes for the debate on CityTV are:

May 22 at 5:00 PM
May 23 at 8:00 PM
May 24 at 10:00 AM
May 25 at 5:00 PM
May 26 at 12:30 PM
May 27 at 8:00 AM
May 28 at 8:00 PM
May 29 at 3:00 PM
May 30 at 8:00 AM
May 31 at 7:00 PM
June 1 at 10:00 AM
June 2 at 8:00 AM