EXTRA TAX WOULD BUY OPEN LAND MEASURE A ON NOV. BALLOT.

Byline: Eric Leach Staff Writer

Ventura County residents vote next month on a measure that would raise an estimated $25 million a year with a 10-year, quarter-percent sales tax - money to pay for preserving open space.

Revenues from a Measure A tax would be used to buy property outright or to pay farmers who forgo selling their land for development.

``It's the only measure that will permanently protect open space and farmland in the county,'' said Karen Schmidt, executive director of Save Open Space and Agricultural Resources and part of the County Open Space Alliance.

Critics, however, point out that Measure A does not specify exactly which projects would be funded by the tax increase, or why some communities that have worked hard to acquire parkland should subsidize open space acquisition elsewhere.

Simi Valley Mayor Pro Tem Paul Miller said he opposes the tax for those reasons.

``The city has done a great job of getting open space for free through negotiation of deals with developers. If we can get it for free, why should we have to pay for it?''

Simi Valley City Councilman Glen Becerra, also has doubts about Measure A.

``My greatest concern will be money taken out of each of the communities without any guarantee that the money will be returned in terms of open space,'' he said. ``Our city has worked with the development community to set aside 3,400 acres of open space at no cost to the taxpayers in recent years, whereas Ahmanson Ranch has cost the taxpayers $150 million.''

Last year, the state purchased nearly 3,000 acres of Ahmanson Ranch between Calabasas and West Hills for $150 million. It used $135 million from Proposition 50, the bond measure passed by voters in 2002, plus $10 million from the State Coastal Conservancy and $5 million from the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy.

If Measure A is approved - and it requires a two-thirds majority of voters to do so - the Ventura County Regional Open Space District would be established, with a five-member board of directors appointed by the Ventura County Board of Supervisors to administer the funds.

For allocation purposes, Ventura County would be divided into three geographic areas based on population. Up to 10 percent of the funds would be available to fund projects of special merit that do not meet the geographic distribution requirements.

``The expectation is that over the 10 years the funds would be spent evenly across the county,'' Schmidt said.

``The open space agency is not intended to be a land management agency,'' Schmidt said. ``It would not go into the business of farming. The intent is to purchase easements, allowing the farmers to continue to own and work the land.

``What they would be selling is the development rights to the land,'' she said. ``It doesn't force them to sell their land. It gives landowners another option other than selling their land for development.''

County Supervisor Kathy Long, who represents heavily agricultural areas in Camarillo, the Oxnard Plain, and along the Santa Clara River around Santa Paula and Fillmore, said she supports the measure and believes county residents will also.

``I think we have a county where people care about having breathing room, and I think they will vote to continue to have that breathing room,'' she said.

Thousand Oaks Mayor Bob Wilson, who is running for re-election in November, said while the measure does not specify exactly what the money would be used for, the county will get open space.

``But it is raising taxes,'' he said. ``It's a matter of personal preference. ... The city of Thousand Oaks' position is to let the voters decide. Whatever the voters want, I'm OK with that either way.''

Although there were no ballot arguments filed against Measure A, it is opposed by the Ventura County Taxpayers Association.

``There are other ways of getting and preserving open space, and we don't feel the correct way is a sales tax,'' said Don Facciano, the taxpayers association president.

But Schmidt said she hopes voters agree that the tax would be an important investment.

``It's such a tiny amount compared to what we will get for that money,'' she said. ``In terms of investment value it's a pretty good deal.''

Eric Leach, [phone]

eric.leach(at)dailynews.com