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Proposition LA-A Neighborhood Public Safety and City Services Funding and Accountability Measure City of Los Angeles General Tax Measure - Majority Approval Required UNOFFICIAL results as of March 6, 2:00 p.m. Fail: 117820 / 44.8% Yes votes ...... 145049 / 55.2% No votes
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Index of all Measures |
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Information shown below: Summary | Fiscal Impact | Impartial Analysis | Arguments | | ||||||
To offset severe and repeated State cuts and provide funding for: 911 emergency response services; maintaining firefighter, paramedic, and police officer staffing levels; continuing community policing, senior services, after-school gang and drug prevention programs; repairing potholes and sidewalks; and other general municipal services; shall the City of Los Angeles enact a one-half cent transactions and use (generally referred to as sales) tax, with required independent audits, public review of expenditures, and all funds used locally?
NEIGHBORHOOD PUBLIC SAFETY AND VITAL CITY SERVICES FUNDING AND ACCOUNTABILITY MEASURE
THE ISSUE:
THE SITUATION: State law allows local City and County governments to impose up to an additional 2 percent of local sales, transactions, and use taxes, and another 0.5 percent to fund Los Angeles County transportation projects, with the approval of the voters. Under State law, the maximum sales tax allowable in Los Angeles County is 10 percent. The current sales tax in the City of Los Angeles is 9 percent. Current sales tax rates in California cities range from 7.5 percent to 10 percent.
THE PROPOSAL:
A YES VOTE MEANS:
A NO VOTE MEANS:
Currently, the sales tax rate in the City of Los Angeles is 9.00%, of which the City's share is 0.75%. If this measure is adopted, the total sales tax rate will increase to 9.50%, and the City's share will increase to 1.25%. The estimated General Fund revenue will be approximately $211 million annually, of which approximately $106 million will be received in its first year of implementation in Fiscal Year 2013-14.
The Law authorizes local government, with voter approval, to levy up to an additional 2 percent in local sales, transactions, and use taxes. Currently, the County of Los Angeles has utilized 1 percent of the 2 percent cap for transportation projects. In addition, the California Legislature authorized Los Angeles County, with voter approval, to levy a 0.5 percent sales tax, specifically to fund Los Angeles County transportation projects. Based on State law, the maximum possible sales and use tax rate in Los Angeles County is 10 percent. Tax rates in California cities currently range from 7.5 percent to 10 percent. The City of Los Angeles, along with 280 other California cities, currently has a 9 percent sales tax ratc. If approved by the voters, the City's tax rate would rise to 9.5 percent, which would be on par with the tax rates in nearby cities such as Santa Monica, Inglewood, and El Monte. Based on the 2012-13 Adopted Budget, the City of Los Angeles expects to receive approximately $3 .78 billion in unrestricted tax revenues to pay for city services, of which $333 million is anticipated from sales tax revenues. More than 72 percent of all unrestricted revenues will be used to pay for public safety, including police (55 percent) and fire serviccs (17 percent), leaving roughly 28 percent to pay for other city services, such as after-school and gangprevention programs, senior services, pothole and sidewalk repair, tree trimming and streetsweeping. To reduce costs and balance the City budget, since 2009, the City has eliminated nearly 5,000 positions, consolidated multiple departments, increased current employees' share of their pension and benefit costs, and established new and reduced pension benefit plans for new civilian and sworn employees. Total City staffmg is now the lowest it has been since 1989. With projected shortfalls in the foreseeable future, further service impacts are likely in order to maintain a balanced budget. This ballot measure would enact a transactions and use tax (generally referred to as a sales tax) of 0.5 percent to generate revenue to maintain and enhance City services, including police, fire, and paramedic services, and all other municipal services. All funds will be used for local City programs and services. These tax revenues and expenditures will be reviewed publicly by a Citizens Oversight and Accountability Committee chaired by the City Controller, and will be subject to independent audit to ensure appropriate use. This ordinance will become effective if approved by a majority of voters.
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Official Information City Channel 35 Easy Voter Guide from League of Women Voters of Los Angeles
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Arguments For Proposition LA-A | Arguments Against Proposition LA-A | ||
the Safe Neighborhoods and Vital City Services Protection Measure. Over the last five years, Sacramento has taken over one billion dollars from the City of Los Angeles money that goes toward vital City services, including fire, police and 911 emergency services. In addition, money has been taken that would maintain youth gang prevention and after school programs, graffiti removal and fix potholes and sidewalks. Despite a significant reduction in the City's workforce and reforming the pension system, Los Angeles faces a budget deficit of more than $200 million that further threatens our most essential services. Additional cuts to fire, police and paramedic services are not an option if we want to maintain the current level of protection for our neighborhoods and families. Proposition A will help restore a severely understaffed fire department, help maintain police, and paramedic staffing levels and ensure fast and effective 911 response services to make sure residents receive quality emergency medical care and get to a hospital quickly. Without Proposition A's additional revenue, a minimum of 500 police officers that patrol our neighborhoods will be laid off and our historically low crime rates may be in danger. Proposition A also ensures that everyone pays their fair share, including businesses and the millions of tourists and people from nearby cities who visit Los Angeles every year to shop, eat and attend events. Proposition A will cost the average Los Angeles resident less than 10 cents a day, and by law the tax cannot be applied to food and medicine. Proposition A requires annual independent audits, public review of expenditures and most importantly, these funds cannot be taken away by the state and will only be used to maintain vital City of Los Angeles services. We urge you to protect our firefighters, police officers, paramedics and vital City services -Vote YES on Proposition A.
Charlie Beck
Marķa Elena Durazo
Bill Rosendahl
Richard H. Close
Frank Lima
Brian Cummings
Rick Tuttle
Joe Buscaino
Andre Quintero
That's the question you must ask yourself when deciding bow to vote on the regressive $200 million sales tax increase sought by city officials. Raising our sales tax{ to a crippling 9.5% will drive businesses, jobs, and consumers out of Los Angeles. It's nothing but a temporary bailout to cover up City Hall's failure to deal with soaring payroll costs - another $750 million over the next four years! Remember when they tripled our trash fee to keep 10,000 cops on the street? Where did all that money go? Now they are threatening to fire 500 officers if we don't approve this raid on our wallets. Los Angeles is heading over a fiscal cliff because the City Council failed to deal with the $11.5 billion pension liability and the looming $1.1 billion budget deficit. Don't reward bad behavior. Enough is enough. NO on A!
Jack Humphreville
David W. Fleming
Kenneth S. Alpern, M.D.
James O'Sullivan
Richard J. Riordan
Glenn Burley
Mark Seigel
Dominick W. Rubelcava | VOTE NO ON THE REGRESSIVE SALES TAX City Hall has failed year after year to control runaway spending. Now it wants us to cover up its addiction with a permanent half cent increase in our sales tax, jacking it up to a crippling 9.5%, one of the highest in the nation. This sales tax. hike is bad for LA, bad for hard working Angelenos, bad for job-creating businesses, and bad for the City's reputation. It's a regressive tax that will have a disproportionate impact on working and middle class Angelenos, and encourage consumers to shop in nearby lower taxed cities. Worst of all, it doesn't solve the budget crisis, and will make finding real solutions so much more difficult in the future while delaying desperately needed repairs to our streets, sidewalks, and other infrastructure. For example, the $215 million in new revenue will not even cover next year's $300 million increase in labor costs or the $768 million escalation over the next four years. Our elected officials continue to mislead us about the City's finances. The steps they have taken in four years of economic challenge have been grossly inadequate. Paying off workers to retire early added to the massive unfunded pension liability. Transferring workers to the DWP contributed to soaring water and power rates. Increased employee pension contributions are dwarfed by the salary increases of 25% since 2005. The Mayor's pension "reform" plan saves only about 1% of the $1.3 billion of the city's pension contribution in 2017. And the City Council contemptuously ignored Mayor Riordan's call for real pension reform. It's time for City Hall to stop "kicking the can down the road" to insolvency. It's time for real REFORM. Don't reward bad behavior. Vote NO on Proposition A.
Jack Humphreville
Richard J. Riordan
Bernard Parks
Cary Brazeman
Stuart Waldman
Jan Perry
Kevin James
Candidate for Mayor
Patricia Donaldson
Ron Kaye
Sales tax is the only tax paid by businesses, tourists, residents, citizens and non-citizens. There are no loopholes. Proposition A will cost the average Los Angeles resident about $30 dollars per YEAR, less than a dime a day. State law prohibits this tax from applying to medicine, food and gasoline. Los Angeles has also taken the first steps to fixing our budget - cutting 5,000 positions, reversing previous pension giveaways and for the first time approving real pension reform. Vote YES on Proposition A.
Charlie Beck
Marķa Elena Durazo ...
Bill Rosendahl
Andre Quintero
Brian Cummings
Richard H. Close
Frank Lima
Joe Buscaino |