RESIDENTS FAVOR TAXES FOR SCHOOLS SURVEY: 60 PERCENT WOULD OK $27 A YEAR.

Byline: Karen Maeshiro Staff Writer

LANCASTER - About 60 percent of Westside Union School District voters would support paying an annual tax of $27 to help pay for school construction, according to a survey commissioned by the school district.

The survey showed that support declined to 55 percent when the assessment was increased to $30.

``Looks like we have the community support to move forward with a bond at $27 per $100,000 assessed valuation,'' Superintendent Regina Rossall said. ``Voters were very interested in programs to make our schools more technologically updated and expanding our schools, both in terms of repair and renovation as well as adding new schools.''

Westside officials are thinking of placing a bond on the June 6 ballot to help pay for building about six schools within the next decade. A decision is expected at the board's March 7 meeting.

Depending on how fast the assessed valuation in the Westside district grows, the bond amount could range anywhere from $52 million to $75 million, Rossall said. There are 27,000 voters in the district, Rossall said.

Westside trustees in January hired a company, at a cost of about $12,000, to survey voters by telephone to gauge support for a bond measure to help build schools. A total of 400 registered voters were polled.

If a bond is pursued, the district would attempt to pass a school construction bond measure under Proposition 39, which would require approval by 55 percent, rather than two-thirds, of the voters and would cap taxes at $30 per $100,000 assessed valuation.

The assessments are not capped under a bond passed with two-thirds approval.

The survey was conducted by Emeryville-based consulting firm Caldwell Flores Winters.

``By and large the survey came back very positive, the exception being fiscal management. That has come up a lot in the last year,'' Rossall said. ``(The consultants) try to get a baseline as to the perception of the community.''

The district emerged from financial troubles last year after going through several rounds of budget cuts, including increased class sizes in grades kindergarten through third grade.

Westside district voters in June 1989 narrowly approved an $8.5 million bond measure, passed with 23 votes more than the minimum two-thirds then necessary.

In 1998, district voters approved extending the school construction tax to 2026 to raise $14.7 million.

The current bond tax started at $30 annually per $100,000 assessed value but has since dropped to about $18 because of construction of new homes and rising valuations, district officials said.

The total residential and commercial assessed valuation in the district is about $5 billion.

To finance school construction, Westside has been forming special tax districts, which allow developers to pass on to homeowners school-building fees rather than pay them before houses are built.

Officials are projecting the district will need a middle school and several elementary schools in the 7,200-home Ritter Ranch master-planned community.

Two schools would be needed for the planned 1,900-home Del Sur Ranch development near 90th Street West and Avenue H. Del Sur School, a kindergarten to eighth-grade school, would be converted to a middle school.

And more elementary classrooms are needed around Sundown School near 60th Street West and Avenue J-8.

Karen Maeshiro, [phone]

karen.maeshiro(at)dailynews.com