Supervisors OK Utility Tax Relief for Farmers : Government: The exemption for power used to pump water means less money to bail out the county’s mental health system.

Los Angeles County farmers won a partial exemption Tuesday from a utility tax meant to help salvage the county’s mental health system.

The exemption, approved 3 to 2 by Los Angeles County supervisors, will protect farmers from a potentially disastrous burden, supporters said. But opponents said the decision is a self-serving and shortsighted action that threatens to unravel the mental health bailout plan.

In January, supervisors approved three taxes to raise $18.3 million for the county Mental Health Department to prevent extensive layoffs and clinic closures prompted by state funding cuts.

About $14.3 million of that was expected to come from a 5% tax on gas, electric and telephone bills of county residents, with the remainder from taxes on garbage dumps and amusement parks.

The exemption applies only to the power used by farmers to pump water for irrigation. It is expected to mean $300,000 less in county revenues.

Supervisor Mike Antonovich, whose 5th District includes the rural Antelope Valley, said he proposed the exemption because he feared the tax would put some farmers out of business.

“This tax has created a severe and disproportionate hardship for Los Angeles County’s farmers,” Antonovich said, adding that county estimates show the tax would have forced 25 farmers to pay “between 15 and 500 times what the average family pays.”

Opponents said the exemption invites others to ask for the same treatment, endangering the plan to raise funds for the Mental Health Department.

Comparing farmers with average families is misleading, said Supervisor Ed Edelman, because farmers earn income from their power use and families don’t. The exemption will “open up a Pandora’s box,” he said.

After Tuesday’s vote, Supervisor Gloria Molina threatened to round up industry owners from her East Los Angeles district who are similarly affected by the tax.

“This has totally undermined” the bailout, she said.

However, County Administrative Officer Richard B. Dixon said the Mental Health Department probably would not be hurt because the cut would be made in the county’s overall budget.

“We’d have to take a light cut in services somewhere,” he said. “But in a $10-billion budget, it’s hard for me to say exactly where right now.”

Farmers attending the meeting said they had not known the utility tax was being assessed until they received their February utility bills, too late to change their planting or pumping for this crop. They also said they are pumping more underground water this year than ever because supplies from the State Water Project have been limited by the drought.

“The timing is bad, kind of like kicking them when they’re down,” said Gene Nebeker, who farms alfalfa and hay on 400 acres near Lancaster.

Forrest Godde, who farms 2,000 acres in the western Antelope Valley, said the tax would have caused his utility bills to increase by about $20,000, which he said he and his partner could not afford to pay.

Supervisor Kenneth Hahn joined board conservatives Antonovich and Deane Dana in approving the exemption.