Filing shows Limoneira donated $25K
to Measure F sales tax initiative

October 10, 2014
Santa Paula News

The treasurer of Measure F, the 1 percent sales tax proposal to beef up public safety and fix roads, has filed the first financial statement of the initiative that will be decided by Santa Paula voters November 4... and it’s a big one.

Limoneira Co. has financed $25,202 worth of unspecified goods and services according to the report filed Monday with Deputy City Clerk Lucy Blanco. 

Also meeting the reporting deadline was City Council candidate John Demers, who reported no campaign donations or expenditures to date.

The Measure F funds are listed as non-monetary donations and noted as “bill paid by third party” - expenditures ranging from $12,000 to $156 - by campaign Treasurer Jim Tovias, who introduced the measure to the council earlier this year. 

Citizen Delton Lee Johnson also donated $100 to the Measure; there was one other donation listed of $50, an amount below requirements for donor information. 

It will take at least 2/3 of Santa Paula voters to approve Measure F for it to be implemented: projections are an added 1 percent sales tax - 1˘ on the dollar - would generate $1.6 million annually that would be split between police (50 percent) and fire and roads (25 percent each). Any upswing in sales would add even more to the fund which as a specific tax would have to be spent as designated; the council would be able to order fund shifts as annual needs are met, but only to the designated entities and following a public hearing.

The measure was created after police resources dwindled by about 40 percent and a series of homicides struck the city. Starting in May 2013 there were 9 homicides in an 18-month period, including the murders of four women, one struck by a stray bullet after a mid-afternoon gang confrontation turned violent in the street outside her High Street home.

Over the previous nine years, from 2003 to 2012, there had been a total of 8 homicides, including an officer involved shooting.

Measure F supporters - led by Citizens for a Safer Santa Paula - have been fanning out across the city to build support for the measure which if approved by voters would increase Santa Paula’s sales tax to 8.5 percent, the highest in the county.

But, supporters note that in return for the penny on each sales dollar the city would hire more cops, create youth programs to keep kids away from drugs and gangs, retain essential fire personnel, add equipment to both departments and strengthen salaries. Measure F will add revenue to tackle long neglected street work that is a hazard to vehicles and unsightly to residents and visitors alike.





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