County Sets Stage for Jail Tax Referendum : Politics: The supervisors name Roger R. Stanton and Harriett M. Wieder to the Orange County Regional Justice Facilities Commission. The group will have its first meeting next week.

The Orange County Board of Supervisors capped years of intense debate Tuesday by unanimously approving a proposal that sets the stage for a countywide referendum on a half-cent sales tax for a new jail.

The action, which came on a procedural vote, carries huge implications for the jail construction debate. The supervisors named two colleagues--Roger R. Stanton and Harriett M. Wieder--to the Orange County Regional Justice Facilities Commission, and that long-moribund group, created in 1989 but never activated, plans to have its debut meeting next week.

When it does, most observers expect that the commission will support scheduling a May 14 referendum on a half-cent sales tax increase to pay for new jails and other law-enforcement projects. If that election goes forward, it would mark the first time in the decade-long jail-overcrowding debate that voters have had the chance to consider the question.

“It’s time for the voters to make this decision,” Supervisor Don R. Roth said after the meeting. “Let’s ask them whether they want to tax themselves to build these jails, and see what they say.”

Although he had previously indicated that he was leaning in favor of voting for the appointments issue, Roth’s support Tuesday surprised some political observers. Roth is an ardent opponent of the proposed Gypsum Canyon jail. The controversial site is just outside Anaheim, and proponents intend to use money from the tax, if it passes, to pay for building and operating that jail.

Supporters of the Gypsum Canyon project say it represents the best chance for the county to end its jail overcrowding crisis: More than 4,400 inmates are currently in the county’s five jails, which were built to hold 3,203. Thousands more are being released early every year to make room for more serious offenders.

Although the tax represents a potential vehicle to pay for building the Gypsum Canyon jail, Board Chairman Gaddi H. Vasquez, who also opposes that location, joined Roth in voting for the appointments and in voicing support for letting the public decide.

“There are differing opinions as to whether or not this is the right or not the right time to have a vote,” said Vasquez, whose district includes the jail site. “But there is a need to ask voters the question, and May 14 may be the day to do that.”

Privately, some political insiders suggested that the support of Vasquez and Roth was largely motivated by those supervisors’ belief that voters will reject the tax. Many observers share that belief. They note that on that date, it will be a special election--which generally means low and unpredictable voter turnout--and also that that date coincides with the one set for a runoff election, should one be needed, in the 35th Senate District race. The center of that district is in Anaheim, where opposition to Gypsum Canyon is thought to be strongest.

Proponents of the tax, however, maintain that the time is right to have a referendum, and they have spent eight days of furious lobbying and other frantic activity to bring the issue to a head.

The scramble was led by Sheriff Brad Gates, who said a recent Times Orange County Poll strengthened his belief that voters would approve the tax now.

That poll found surprisingly strong support for a sales tax increase to pay for jails: 49% of those polled said they would pay an extra half-penny on the dollar to build a jail in Gypsum Canyon, and the proportion jumped to 60% when respondents were reminded that overcrowding in the jails has forced Gates to release thousands of inmates early every year to make room for more serious offenders.

Gates was present during the board vote, and afterward he called it a crucial step toward resolving the jail crowding crisis.

“I’m very, very pleased,” Gates said after the session. “I think we have the opportunity to educate the public that this is serious. . . . We need to solve it, and they’re the only ones that can give us an answer.”

In addition to paying for the Gypsum Canyon jail, Gates said the sales tax would offer other law enforcement benefits: Money from the tax might allow the Board of Supervisors to rescind an unpopular jail-booking fee that cities vehemently oppose, Gates said. Prospects for such an action are uncertain, however. Badly needed new courts and juvenile facilities also are among the projects that could be financed, the sheriff added.

The possibility of money for those programs encouraged Vasquez to offer his support.

“The potential funding goes beyond just one facility,” Vasquez said during the meeting. Later, he added: “It does not take a financial wizard to see that we need money to pay for some of these law-enforcement projects.”

With the board’s appointments to the commission made, attention will now shift to the League of California Cities, Orange County Division. A special committee of the league will meet at 7:30 a.m. on Feb. 15 to appoint its two members to the commission. Those two will join Stanton and Wieder in a meeting later in the day to appoint a fifth member.

Also at that session, the five members will take up the sales-tax vote, and they will have to resolve that matter quickly, as the deadline for scheduling the May 14 referendum is that afternoon.

“I don’t envy the task ahead of them,” Vasquez said.

Indeed, the speed at which the sales tax proposal has raced through the county government left some participants in the debate stunned. But Stanton argued that the commission will be able to weigh the issues and come to a decision at the Feb. 15 meeting, in time to let the May 14 vote proceed.

“This is a problem that has been with us for 13 years,” Stanton said. “Tactical decisions that are being made this week should not be regarded as rushed. We have the time we need.”