Seventy five years ago in early August 1942, Berkeley city government was in the midst of a wartime tax controversy. It was rather tangled, but here’s what I think was happening.

The city wanted more money to spend on civil defense activities and voters had passed a special tax to fund it in May. Nearly $400,000 would have been raised by the special tax, but the governor of California declined to call a special session of the state Legislature to approve measures that would give Berkeley access to the money.

The Berkeley city manager then enlisted the Berkeley Unified School District in a different strategy. The school district had tax funds available for construction, but couldn’t continue building because of federal bans on non-essential construction during the war.

The idea seems to have been that the BUSD would relocate the construction money to “purchase defense equipment and provide for the employment of additional police and firemen” as a “school protection measure,” the Berkeley Gazette reported Aug. 4, 1942.

Some taxpayer groups rose in wrath, calling the measure a “subterfuge.” The “Better Berkeley League” paid for an advertisement in the Aug. 3, 1942, Gazette demanding that the school district not provide these funds.

“Do you think it right to pursue this kind of a tax program in the face of the war? Does the red skeleton of the auditorium mean more to Berkeley than the living flesh and blood of its men in the Philippines, in Australia, in Africa, perhaps soon in Europe? Selfishness must be forgotten and our total effort directed towards winning this war. Citizens are willing to sacrifice, BUT a comparable sacrifice must be made by government.”

Fighting words, especially the “red skeleton” of the auditorium, which referred to the rust-tinged metal superstructure of the Berkeley Community Theater, which was sitting incomplete. One must keep in mind, however, that the ad was not demanding that the money be redirected to the war effort. It was actually asking the school district to cut property taxes, not support American soldiers overseas.

The school board tried to avoid the issue by sending a telegram to Gov. Culbert Olson, saying that Berkeley was “in a combat zone” and needed the state to authorize the special city tax. The governor sent a telegrma telegram back tartly that “I disregard the impertinent expression and tone of your telegram” and, no, he wouldn’t call a special session of the Legislature to authorize new Berkeley taxes.

“You may be worrying about this being election year, but I am not,” Gov. Olson concluded.

The board met Aug. 5, 1942, and “several hundred citizens and property owners representing all phases of community life attended.” The board seemed to be in favor of using the tax money as the city requested, but there was a setback when the county district attorney provided a letter analyzing whether they could do so.

On Aug. 7, the school board finally decided to approve the special funding as part of its annual budget.

Air raid

On Aug. 9, 1942, Berkeley conducted its “first official test” of eight air raid sirens placed around Berkeley. The sirens were at Cragmont School, Washington School, California Ink Company, Peet Brothers plant, Grizzly Peak, California School for the Deaf, “the old P.G.and E. powerhouse on Glendale Avenue near Campus Drive,” and the UC Berkeley powerhouse. The noon hour test was reported successful, covering the city. It coincided with a test in Oakland.

War news

On Aug. 10, 1942, the Gazette reported American troops had landed in the Solomon Islands, the first counter attack against Japanese forces in the Pacific. This was later revealed to be the landing on Guadalcanal.