PARK PARCEL TAX DEFEATED ONLY 40% OF VOTES SAY OK TO $25 FEE.

Byline: Judy O'Rourke Special to the Daily News

SANTA CLARITA - The city's proposed $25-a-year special assessment to fund park and open space purchases was defeated, according to Wednesday's official tally, which found that about two-thirds of property owners did not vote.

The measure fell short of the simple majority needed to pass, with 40 percent of voters in favor and 60 percent opposed.

``This is democracy at work,'' said Mayor Cameron Smyth. ``If this was not something the people wanted, they have spoken. You respect that and move on.''

There appeared to be no organized opposition to the measure and wide support was voiced over the past few months by environmentalists, safety officials, business leaders and developers. Two polls conducted in the past year found that eligible voters would likely support the formation of the Open Space and Parkland Preservation District, said Gail Ortiz, the city's spokeswoman.

If the measure had passed, it could have generated about $1.46 million a year to buy, maintain and develop parkland and open space. The money could have been leveraged to generate more than $80 million right away, Ortiz said.

The city spent about $250,000 on informational materials, ballots, polls and an engineer's report, Ortiz said. By law, the city was allowed to educate voters on such issues but had to remain politically neutral. A couple of dozen calls were received by an informational hotline and two community meetings drew about 50 people each. Santa Clarita City Council members Laurene Weste and Frank Ferry were appointed by the council to head a subcommittee that conveyed the city's support for the measure, but the pair acted as private citizens to advocate for it. On Wednesday, Weste and Ferry and city staff members did not return phone calls seeking comment.

Long Beach-based Adler Public Affairs was hired by a private-citizen group to advocate for the measure. Adler declined to say how much the group spent on the effort, and did not return calls, either.

It will take at least a week for officials to begin sorting out why the measure failed. Votes on the nonsecret ballots will be plotted out on a map, community by community.

The votes were weighted, with single-family homeowners receiving one vote, condominium owners getting three-quarters of a vote, and property owners who own larger spreads or multiple parcels casting more than one weighted vote.

A total of 17,257 ballots were returned by the Nov. 22 deadline, a little more than one-third of the 49,500 mailed to property owners six weeks ago. Of those returned, 8,103 voted for the measure and 9,154 voted against.

Building parks and providing recreational opportunities has always been high on the city's priority list, Ortiz said, and though the budget will be strained by competing needs in the coming years, those items will continue to rank very high.

Judy O'Rourke, [phone]

judy.orourke(at)dailynews.com