Long Beach City Council unanimous in moving sales tax ballot measure forward

Long Beach’s City Council moved closer to asking city voters to approve a sales tax increase, voting unanimously Tuesday to ask the city’s legal team to draft a measure for the June 7 ballot.

The council’s decision clears the way for the city’s voters to express their own collective will as to whether a tax increase is the best way for city govement to confront such problems as recent crime increases and damaged streets and sidewalks.

“This is a very big step. It’s an important step to give voters a choice,” Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia said during Tuesday’s council meeting.

Garcia went public with his proposal for a 10-year sales tax measure this past Thursday when he published a letter, co-signed by former mayors Bob Foster and Beverly O’Neill, proposing a sales tax increase as a means to reverse some past budget cuts to Long Beach’s police and fire departments and to catch up on the city’s infrastructure needs.

The sales tax rate in Long Beach is currently set at 9 percent. If voters ultimately agree a sales tax increase is the right choice, sales taxes would increase 1 percent for six years. The tax increase provided for by the ballot measure would shrink to 0.5 percent during its final four years.

The mayor’s plan also calls for an additional ballot measure establishing that 1 percent of any new revenue sources are placed into savings.

Councilman Al Austin put forth the motion to vote on the mayor’s proposal. The council voted after he accepted Councilwoman Stacy Mungo’s suggestion to convene a citizen’s advisory committee to examine whether city govement follows through on the promise to spend any future revenues on public safety and infrastructure.

City Attoey Charles Parkin said formal ballot measures will be ready for approval when the council meets Feb. 23.

The trust issue

As proposed, the sales tax increase would be a general tax, meaning that current or future officials would legally be able to spend future revenues on any aspect of city business. Voters will have to decide whether they can trust City Hall to spend future revenues as pledged.

Mungo’s proposal for an advisory committee was one way in which officials participating in Tuesday’s discussions acknowledged those kinds of conces. Councilwoman Suzie Price similarly said that she will want a way to demonstrate to residents that any future revenues will be spent on public safety or infrastructure and not to finance new labor deals or such hypothetical expenses as a “fancy” new vehicle for the parks and recreation department.

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Garcia said Tuesday that he will use his authority as mayor to direct future revenues to public safety and infrastructure when making budget proposals. It’s up to the council to vote upon those proposals, but he said during a Monday meeting with the Press-Telegram’s editorial board that he would veto any budgets that fail to devote new revenues to public safety or infrastructure.

Plans for the money

Garcia said Tuesday, as he did in his January State of the City address that his intention in regards to the city’s police department is to give police brass enough money to revert to the pre-2012 deployment strategy in which the city had four patrol divisions. The department has three, following the merger of its southe and weste commands.

The mayor has also said it’s a priority to restore an engine company to Fire Station 8, which serves Belmont Shore.

A 1 percent sales tax measure is projected to raise about $48 million in new revenues aually.

According to a December report, Long Beach has $2.8 billion worth of infrastructure needs over the next 10 years. Long Beach has $68 million assigned to capital projects during the current fiscal year, leaving the city about $212 million short of accomplishing all of its identified needs.

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