County Hikes Fees for Car Registration : Environment: The $2 levy is the second increase since December. The money will pay for anti-smog measures.

In the latest in a series of fee increases over the past eight months, the Ventura County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to raise the cost of registering cars to help pay for programs designed to reduce air pollution.

The board voted 4 to 1 to add $2 to the annual registration cost.

It was the second time the car-registration fee has been increased by $2 since December and the fifth time the supervisors have approved a fee increase since September.

Car owners will begin to pay the previously adopted registration fee on June 1 and the new fee on April 1, 1992.

The registration fees together will raise an estimated $2 million annually to fund several anti-smog programs operated by the county’s Air Pollution Control District, county officials said.

The added costs were criticized by the Ventura County Taxpayers Assn. The group’s executive director called them “tax increases that the public isn’t really going to be aware of.”

The two fees increase the cost of registering a car in Ventura County to $28. Car owners must also pay a state vehicle license fee, based on the car’s value.

Supervisor John K. Flynn was the only member of the board to vote against both registration fee increases.

He noted Tuesday that Gov. Pete Wilson’s plan to balance a $12.6-billion shortfall in next year’s state budget includes an increase in the vehicle license fee that would generate $769 million annually.

Flynn suggested that supervisors wait until the state’s budget is adopted before considering a higher registration fee.

Jere Robings, executive director of the taxpayers group, said his organization opposes any new fees.

“It’s another way the government can put its hand in the taxpayer’s pocket without a lot of furor,” he said. “A little bit here and a little bit there. They try to spread it out so it’s not so noticeable.”

Robings noted that the two vehicle-registration fee increases are in addition to three other fee increases approved by the supervisors since last fall.

In September, the supervisors voted to charge school districts, cities and special assessment districts a fee for collecting property taxes--which is expected to raise more than $3.4 million annually.

The board also voted that month to charge cities a $120 fee for every person booked into County Jail. That fee is designed to raise $1 million annually.

Cities and school districts have refused to pay either fee, saying the charges are unlawful.

In March, the board adopted a license fee for businesses in the county’s unincorporated area. That fee, which is based on a company’s gross sales and profit margins and will be imposed on July 1, is expected to generate at least $500,000 annually.

The state gave counties the power to impose the three fees to absorb state funding cuts under a state law approved last year. The state reduced Ventura County’s appropriation by about $6 million in fiscal 1990-91.

The state also gave the county the power to increase the vehicle registration fee last year. A law authored by Assemblyman Byron D. Sher (D-Palo Alto) allows counties to raise the fee by a maximum of $4.

The vehicle registration fee adopted Tuesday will fund eight anti-smog programs, including four designed to reduce smog generated by cars. Those programs include one to promote ride-sharing and another to require large companies to purchase vehicles that run on cleaner fuels such as methanol.

The four other programs have the goal of reducing emissions from industry, schools and government.

In a related matter, the Board of Supervisors delayed for three weeks the adoption of new regulations proposed by the county Air Pollution Control District to reduce air pollution generated by the county’s oil industry and companies that produce natural gas.

However, the supervisors approved 13 new regulations mandated by the federal Environmental Protection Agency.

The supervisors decided to delay adoption of the district’s proposals until the California Air Resources Board completes a study on oil field emissions. Those regulations focus on leaks from pipes and valves used by oil and natural gas companies.

The county and EPA regulations together would force the oil and natural gas industries to reduce air pollution in Ventura County by 35 tons a year, county officials said.

Several spokesmen for the oil industry urged the Board of Supervisors to reject the district’s recommendations, saying the oil industry has been over-regulated and is being driven out of business.