MOSQUITO DISTRICT GROWS TWO AREAS VOTE TO JOIN VECTOR CONTROL IN FIGHT AGAINST WEST NILE VIRUS.

Byline: Charles F. Bostwick Staff Writer

PALMDALE - Rancho Vista and Quartz Hill property owners have voted to tax themselves to combat mosquitoes, which can carry West Nile virus.

The annual levy of $6.40 to $9 a year might not take effect until the 2006-07 property tax bills, but the Antelope Valley Mosquito and Vector Control District said it will continue spraying for mosquito larvae in the areas.

The district's workers had been spraying there this spring under a Los Angeles County grant that ran out July 1.

``Now that we know the majority of people wanted to join the district, we are going to continue the services,'' said Karen Mellor, the mosquito district's entomologist.

The votes, weighted according to the amount of the annual levies individual property owners would pay, were 57.5 percent in favor in Quartz Hill for joining the mosquito district and 56.5 percent in favor in Rancho Vista, district officials said.

The election was done by mail starting in May. Results were announced Wednesday.

Votes were counted in two zones, essentially separated by the Palmdale city limits at Avenue N.

Mosquito district officials said they mailed out 6,739 ballots to property owners in Rancho Vista south of Avenue N, and 6,763 to Quartz Hill property owners north of Avenue N.

About 26.7 percent of ballots were mailed back from property owners north of Avenue N, and 29.9 percent from south of Avenue N, the district said.

Individually, the vote was 1,185 in favor and 856 against in Rancho Vista, and 1,044 in favor and 761 against in Quartz Hill, district officials said.

This is the second vote in two years among property owners in the area. They rejected joining the district in the last election, which occurred before the mosquito-borne West Nile virus arrived in Southern California.

Run by a board appointed by county supervisors, the mosquito abatement district was established in 1958 to finance inspection for mosquito- breeding sites and the killing of mosquito larvae in a 280-square-mile area covering most of Lancaster, parts of Quartz Hill, central and eastern Palmdale and farmland east of Lancaster.

Areas that were left out of the district when it was formed have been added as Palmdale and Lancaster city boundaries and residential neighborhoods expanded.

Officials said they do not know why Rancho Vista was not brought into the district when the area - then farmland - was annexed to Palmdale more than 20 years ago.

No human cases of West Nile virus have been reported in the Antelope Valley, but two horses were sickened last year. The virus has been detected in birds this spring in Rosamond and at Edwards Air Force Base, as well as in chickens in a sentinel flock the mosquito district keeps near Avenue I and Division Street.

The virus last year infected more than 300 Los Angeles County residents, including 190 who became ill enough to be hospitalized and 13 who died. The human case closest to the Antelope Valley occurred in Saugus.

So far this spring, three human cases have been reported in California: a teenage boy in Riverside County, a 39-year-old woman in San Bernardino County and a 47-year-old man in Tulare County.

Mosquito district officials hope the taxes can be included on Quartz Hill and Rancho Vista property tax bills that come out in December, but said the annexation process might not be completed in time. In that case, they would be added to the 2006-07 tax bills. The annual total is expected to be about $90,000, Mellor said.

The election results are a relief, she said.

``We were worried about it,'' Mellor said. ``The problem before is, first of all, we can't give any service to people who were living out there. Secondly, we couldn't really protect our boundaries. Mosquitoes obviously don't see those borders. They could be coming out of a ditch or pool in Rancho Vista.''

Charles F. Bostwick, [phone]

chuck.bostwick(at)dailynews.com