County Votes to End Harbor’s Parks Subsidy

County supervisors on Tuesday agreed to end the subsidy that has kept the county parks system alive for nearly two decades.

Citing a dire decline in the business climate of Channel Islands Harbor, Supervisors John K. Flynn, Kathy Long, Judy Mikels and Frank Schillo voted to eliminate an 18-year-old annual $1-million subsidy to the parks system from Channel Islands Harbor.

Supervisor Susan Lacey voted against cutting the subsidy, saying she was disturbed by a lack of firm financial information detailing the harbor’s decline.

But the supervisors in favor of the measure agreed that the scant profit the harbor generates would be better reinvested back into marketing efforts, repairs and improvements at the 30-year-old harbor.

“The harbor, if you have looked at it in the last five years, has been in a struggle,” said Flynn, who with Schillo proposed that the subsidy be discontinued. “There’s no question in my mind about it.”

Officials and business owners say the harbor, at the south end of Harbor Boulevard, remains mired in a recession, with boat slip and tax revenues so depleted that the harbor can no longer afford to have such a large portion of its income siphoned off to support the parks.

Harbor administrators, in turn, have had to borrow $231,000 from the county general fund budget to comply with board policy and send financial support to the parks.

Supervisor Judy Mikels called the subsidy arrangement absurd.

“It makes absolutely no sense,” she said.

Officials say the 18 parks owned and operated by the county have enough cash to remain open through the end of the fiscal year--June 30.

Top county harbor, parks and administrative officials will meet in coming weeks to evaluate the finances of both agencies and return to the supervisors by February with long-term recommendations on how the parks should be funded.

“This is in no way, shape or form intended to be punitive against the parks system,” said Chief Administrative Officer Lin Koester.

Until the passage of Proposition 13 in 1978, the county parks system was funded entirely by the county’s operating budget.

But the measure’s curbs against property tax increases severed a stream of tax income that had funded local government programs and services.

The measure prompted the county to help pay for the parks by transferring about $1.2 million annually in harbor profits.

Businesses operating at the harbor have argued for years that profits should be reinvested in the harbor and not used to support the parks.

In April 1996, county supervisors agreed. They approved a major reorganization plan that would gradually decrease the subsidy to zero after five years.

Officials say a serious decline in the harbor’s business climate requires the subsidy to be ended immediately. They cite a recession that made boating an unaffordable luxury, acres of new retail development along the Ventura Freeway and a lack of family-oriented recreational opportunities that give people a reason to visit the harbor.