GARDEN GROVE : Court Bars ‘Utility’ on Ballot, but ‘Tax’ OK

Activists can use the word “tax” in their March ballot argument against the city’s water billing system but must delete the term “utility tax” because it is inflammatory, a judge ruled Thursday.

Superior Court Judge Tully H. Seymour said he found use of the words “utility tax” on the ballot misleading and not within the common understanding of the term.

Moreover, Seymour said, the term is so politically loaded in Orange County that it has become a “third rail: touch it and it’s over.” In 1994, for instance, Fullerton residents removed from office three council members who decided to balance the city budget with a 2% tax on utility bills.

But Seymour did allow use of the word “tax” because the charge “accomplishes the same result,” he said. Seymour ruled that the backers of the water rate initiative could call the charge a “disguised tax,” for example.

Both anti-tax activists and the attorney representing city officials were satisfied with the judge’s ruling.

“We are happy,” anti-tax activist Al Snook said. “The important thing is that the argument will appear on the ballot, and it will say [the charge] is a tax.”

Mark Rosen, the attorney representing Mayor Bruce A. Broadwater and Councilmen Ho Chung, Tony Ingegneri and Mark Leyes, was happy the judge struck down “utility tax” and accepted use of the word “tax.”

“Utility tax” had been used by anti-tax activists in Garden Grove to describe the $1.35 million the city now collects from its water department to cover--in some cases--expenses not related to water use. The ballot measure would repeal the charge instituted in 1991.