Most area measures seem likely to pass

Voters in four Southern California counties were giving a warm reception to an array of local tax measures Tuesday, preserving a handful of telephone utility taxes and giving the edge to half a dozen school construction bonds, according to partial returns.

With voter turnout buoyed by the presidential primary campaign, the city of Los Angeles saw Proposition S, a $243-million telephone tax seen as the last defense against a faltering economy, winning by nearly 2 to 1, partial results showed. And 3 out of every 4 voters were in favor of a facilities bond measure for the Long Beach Community College District.

Three other cities in addition to Los Angeles had placed telephone taxes on the ballot in an attempt to make them invulnerable to a legal challenge. With roughly three-fourths of the ballots counted, Huntington Park voters were overwhelmingly supporting Measure B, a communications users tax that was seeing approval from 4 out of 5 voters. And Measure D, a telephone tax in Pasadena that would generate $10 million annually, was passing by a substantial margin, with roughly half of the votes counted.

In other noteworthy contests, voters were passing a measure to restrict roosters in Riverside, and narrowly approving a proposal for a new City Hall in Newport Beach. However, slightly more Orange County voters were supporting three term-limit measures by a modest margin.

Voters in southern Los Angeles County also chose Democrat Warren Furutani, a Los Angeles Community College District board member, to fill the 55th Assembly District seat left vacant by the election of Assemblywoman Laura Richardson (D-Long Beach) to Congress last year.

In Los Angeles, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa thanked voters for supporting Proposition S but warned that the city faced dire financial straits even with the passage of the tax. But L.A. Police Chief William J. Bratton, who played a pivotal role in the campaign, said voters sent a message about the need to reduce crime and continue hiring police officers.

“This vote shows that Angelenos understand the strides we have made in public safety,” said Bratton, who appeared in 15-second television spots and campaign mailers for Proposition S.

Villaraigosa raised $3 million for the measure, compared with $5,100 collected by foes of the tax, who relied primarily on free media. Proposition S opponent Walter Moore said deceptive ballot language, such as the decision to sell Proposition S as a tax cut, helped fuel the strong returns for the telephone tax.

“The proponents got away with it by fooling people who showed up for the presidential primary but don’t really pay attention to local politics,” he said.

While cities worked to keep their phone taxes on the books, three local school districts were seeing their school construction bond measures heading to victory, partial returns showed.

Voters in the Long Beach Community College District were passing the $440-million Measure E. In San Gabriel, voters were favoring the $65-million bond Measure A. And in Redondo Beach, voters were supporting Measure C, a $145-million school bond to modernize classrooms.

Measure R, an education parcel tax in the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District, was gaining the two-thirds vote needed for passage, according to partial returns. The one local bond measure falling short of the needed 55% yes vote was Measure V, a $46-million bond measure in the Acton-Agua Dulce Unified School District.

Taxes were not the only measures on the local ballot. In Inglewood, with roughly half the votes counted, voters were turning back Measure F, which sought to prohibit the public from buying or using fireworks. And in Downey, voters were overwhelmingly rejecting a measure to weaken term limits for the City Council.

In Orange County, voters were rejecting a proposal to build 224 homes on land currently used as recreational open space. But they favored a $200-million school bond in the Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District.

In Santa Ana, the two measures to weaken term limits – one for council members, another for city commissioners – were headed to victory, according to early results. In the special election to fill a vacant board seat in the Anaheim Union High School District, Jordan Brandman was the early top vote-getter, partial results showed.

In the Inland Empire, voters in Riverside were passing a measure to restrict the number of roosters residents can keep in certain agricultural zones. Voters in the Wildomar area of Riverside County were backing a proposal to incorporate and elect a city council.

San Bernardino County was among 21 California counties whose electronic voting machines were decertified, forcing officials to use paper ballots, which hampered the counting. The county did not release its first tally of votes from precincts until nearly 1 a.m. today.

Preliminary results for the city of San Bernardino showed a proposal to rewrite a utility tax was passing handily. Also gaining approval were a $500-million bond measure in the San Bernardino County Community College District and school bond measures in Upland and Redlands, according to early returns.

david.zahniser@latimes.com

Times staff writers Duke Helfand, Christian Berthelsen, and Francisco Vara-Orta contributed to this report.