Council, School Races Top Balloting : Baldwin Park: Six candidates for a single City Council seat are split on an advisory measure calling for a 3% utility tax increase to run for 5 years.

BALDWIN PARK —  Six candidates are vying for a single City Council seat in an election that also includes an advisory measure on a 3% utility tax increase for the next five years.

A similar tax, adopted in 1983 and phased out by 1988, triggered enough discontent to prompt a 1987 recall against three councilmen who supported the increase. One of them died before the vote, but the other two were returned to the council four months later.

The six candidates running for the seat vacated last summer by Rick Gibson, who left to be closer to his job in Ventura County, are split on the tax issue.

George P. Archibeque, 50, a superintendent in a steel manufacturing plant and a member of the city’s Human Services Commission, favors the tax increase as the only fair solution to Baldwin Park’s budget woes.

Joanne Bommarito, 42, a media marketing executive and former savings and loan administrator, supports it for the same reason.

Richard D. Cooks, 32, a career counselor and a member of the county’s Community Action Agency, opposes the increase. He favors the formation of a special commission that would advise local businessmen on how to boost sales, thus enhancing city revenues.

Robert Hill, 49, a truck driver and full-time college student, says the tax increase should be a last resort. He suggests cutting costs by asking residents to volunteer for a range of civic tasks, such as answering telephones in the Police Department.

Hershel Keyser, 58, a retired maintenance man and founder of Citizens for Better Government, the group that led the recall effort two years ago, calls the tax increase a rip-off that would bail out the city’s leaders for their fiscal irresponsibility.

Raul Reyes, 34, an Internal Revenue Service collection officer and member of the city’s Planning commission, says the increase is a necessary evil.