Ventura Will Join Lawsuit on Prop. 57
Ventura has voted to join a lawsuit aimed at stopping the state from taking a portion of the sales tax money collected by the city.
Cerritos filed the suit last week in Alameda County Superior Court, seeking to block a part of Proposition 57, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s deficit-reduction plan.
Under the plan, approved March 2 by voters, the state would take a quarter-cent of the sales tax revenue that normally goes to the cities and use it to pay off a recent voter-approved $15-billion bond.
The cities in turn would be reimbursed by the state with a larger share of property taxes, but Ventura City Councilman Carl Morehouse said he was leery about that part of the plan.
“The state has said it will reimburse it, but they have not had a good history of that,” he said.
Ventura will join the suit in name but will not contribute financially, Morehouse said.
He said Ventura was the 40th city to join the suit.
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