ASSESSMENT BALLOT SPLIT DIVIDES MOORPARK VOTERS.

Byline: Paul O'Donoghue Daily News Staff Writer

Accustomed to the one person, one vote premise that guides most elections, Dee Dee Williams didn't quite know what to make of the park maintenance assessment ballot she recently received in the mail.

The ballot gave Williams and her husband just one vote between them, although Dee Dee favors the $39-a-year fee to pay for parks and her husband opposes it.

``I opened it and I looked at it and I was irate because there was nothing on there that lets me vote,'' Dee Dee said. ``I object to it because it's given to all property owners, but each (property owner) only has one vote, which means in essence you have to compromise. I don't get to fully exercise my vote and my husband doesn't get to exercise his.''

In fact, the city has provided for cases in which property owners disagree on the issue. Homeowners can call the city for an extra ballot so each property owner can vote as they see fit. Rather than counting as two votes, however, the split vote will be weighted, along with votes of different types of property owners.

Under the system, owners of single-family homes get one vote, while the city will count 0.03 of a vote for every one-fifth of an acre or parking lots to 1.9 votes per one-fifth of an acre for owners of office buildings.

The mail-in ballot, sent to some 8,600 property owners and due back by June 16, is the city's latest attempt to win approval for an assessment district that was disbanded last year after voters rejected it.

Following the rejection, the city was able to continue operating the parks by dipping into reserves and other funds, but that money is nearly exhausted. The city now faces a $429,850 budget deficit for fiscal 1999-2000.

Last month, the City Council unanimously approved asking voters to create a new assessment district which is aimed at raising $447,184 to maintain and spruce up the city's 14 parks, buy new playground and other equipment, and reopen Monte Vista Community Park.

Mayor Patrick Hunter says Moorpark's continuation as a pleasant place to live depends on passage of the assessment.

``A lot of the city's fiscal health is predicated on the success or failure of the mail-in ballot,'' he said. ``It's that important to our city not just in budget terms but in quality of life.''

Councilman John Wozniak said he has received only one call over confusion on splitting the ballot, and that there was only so much that could be put on the mailer to explain the process. He said the choice facing property owners is simple.

``If you want parks, this is what you vote for,'' he said. ``You're either for parks to be open or you're against it.

John Williams said he intended to vote against the proposal even before the mailer arrived.

``Why is it always the property owner who gets stuck with these things?'' Williams asked. ``I think that the property owners have been stuck with enough stuff and it's at a point where it's getting to them.''

And confusion about the mailer and the proposed assessment district itself also rankles homeowner Byron Hesser.

``Personally I think the whole ballot is illegal for one thing because of the way it's printed up with only one person on it,'' Hesser said. ``That is very wrong.''

But city officials, including Hunter, Wozniak and Mary Lindley, head of the city's Parks Department, confirmed that disagreeing property owners can split their votes.

Hunter said he has not heard from any property owners confused about splitting the ballot. While he acknowledged that the ballot mailer is confusing, he stressed that it meets standards laid down by state law.

``By its very nature, it's a confusing process,'' he said. However, he urged people who are confused to phone the city, consult its Web site or contact council members for more information.

``I would really encourage people not to cast their votes based on confusion,'' he said. ``This is such an important issue for our community and constitutes a significant portion of our general fund.''