LA COUNTY SUPERVISORS ASK TAXPAYERS TO APPROVE
$300 MILLION ANNUAL TAX WITH NO GUARANTEE of CLEAR OBJECTIVES or PROJECTS
Property owners will pay in perpetuity while stormwater liabilities remain.
LOS ANGELES, Calif. (July 17, 2018) – Home and property owners showed up in force at Tuesday’s LA County Board of Supervisors Meeting to ask that the Board to amend their proposal that would add an additional parcel tax to LA County property owners. Sadly, their requests went unheeded and the flawed $300 million annual tax measure will be put to the voters in November. This tax measure was conceived to help clean up stormwater runoff and create more local water supply; we are federally mandated to clean up our stormwater runoff. While most Angelenos agree this is an important objective, this forever tax, with no defined objectives or specific projects committed to, is not the way to go.
Los Angeles County Business Federation (BizFed) has worked with the County for nearly two years to define a property tax measure that would solve our region’s stormwater liabilities, but in the end two issues remained that the business community felt were fatal flaws in the measure. First, the County proposed a tax that will go on forever, while those concerned with good governance requested that the tax be reduced after 30 years to pay for ongoing operations and maintenance after the majority of the infrastructure had been built. Second, the county is requiring that eligible property owners pay to re-apply for tax credits every two years, which will put an unnecessary burden on both the County and property owners.
“This tax is supposed to solve a specific problem, and theoretically, when that problem gets solved we shouldn’t continue to be taxed for it,” said BizFed Founding CEO Tracy Hernandez. “To ask voters to tax themselves forever is inappropriate and makes this ballot measure unlikely to pass this November.”
In prior cycles, voters narrowly passed Measure R (a sales tax to fund transportation projects) and Measure H (a quarter cent sales tax to pay for homeless services) in part because the taxes would end after 30 and 10 years, respectively. It will be difficult for this stormwater parcel tax to get ⅔ of voter support when voters understand that it will go on forever. Supervisor Kathryn Barger, the lone dissenter on Tuesday, pointed out that voters will be faced with a plethora of property tax and fee measures to consider in the near future.
Property owners who have taken measures to capture stormwater on their property would have to go to the county and apply for a credit. In doing so, they would have to hire their own engineer to certify their work and would have to re-apply every two years. This is too onerous, costly, and waters down the credit program and ultimately disincentivizes smaller property owners to go through this process.
“The Perfect is not the enemy of the good, as mentioned several times at the hearing today. The failure of this tax at the ballot box in November is the enemy of the good.” said Hilary Norton, BizFed Board Chair.
Read the Board Letter Here
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About Los Angeles County Business Federation (BizFed)
With more than 170 business organizations representing 390,000 employers with 3.5 million employees throughout L.A. County, BizFed is a massive, diverse grassroots alliance that advocates for policies and projects that strengthen the regional economy. Leveraging power in numbers, BizFed explores all sides of critical issues and takes action to make a difference for business growth, job creation, and economic vitality in Southern California.
