Panel Favors Garbage Fee Hike to Fund More Police

A Los Angeles city task force Monday called for a new way to pay for the 1,500 additional police officers that city officials say are needed--by raising residents’ garbage collection fees substantially.

The recommendation, made by a 19-member panel of business, labor and community leaders appointed by Mayor Tom Bradley and the City Council, for the first time linked more police officers with higher trash fees--two hotly debated and long-running City Hall controversies.

The panel was created last August to explore ways to finance more police after voters rejected a proposed property tax increase to help pay for 1,000 more officers. It was the second time in four years that city voters defeated such ballot measures.

Higher refuse collection fees, which can be imposed by the council without voter approval, have been narrowly defeated several times by the council in the face of protests by residents and concerns that a flat, across-the-board charge would place an unfair burden on low-income residents.

Inner-City Complaints

Compounding the political problems of any effort to expand the police force are the complaints of inner-city community leaders that too many officers are deployed in the suburbs. They want their share of police protection increased before the force is expanded.

C. Erwin Piper, former Los Angeles city administrative officer and chairman of the panel, acknowledged at a City Hall news conference that the issues raised by the recommendation are controversial. But he added that there appears to be growing council support for increasing fees because of concerns about police protection. “We’ve come to the point that crime is getting out of control,” Piper said, adding that higher rubbish fees are the best way to “free up those dollars necessary to make this a safe city.”

Under the panel’s proposal, which would have to be approved by the City Council and the mayor, the 1,500 officers would be added in 300-officer increments over five years. The additional cost when all the officers were hired would be $89 million a year in current dollars.

The existing $1.50 per month rubbish fee for typical homes would gradually increase to $11.45 per month, generating $75 million a year in additional revenue. The remainder of the funds would be made up from new or higher fees for copies of traffic accident reports, parking and traffic violations and new fines for false burglar alarms sounded electronically to the police department.

Council Members Hesitant

Early reaction to the task force’s report by council members was hesitant. San Fernando Valley Councilman Hal Bernson, chairman of the Police, Fire and Public Safety Committee, said he is “prepared to support most anything that gives us more police officers.” But he stopped short of endorsing the task force report, saying he is concerned that there is no guarantee that the fees would “be strictly reserved for police officers in the future.”

Hollywood area Councilman Michael Woo also reserved judgment, although he insisted that it is a high priority for the council “to make a dramatic increase in the size of the police force.” He said council members “all feel quite a bit of duress . . . hearing from constituents who are dissatisfied with police response times.”

“The question is: Is this politically the most palatable?”

The task force’s proposal could be politically difficult for Bradley, who is challenging Gov. George Deukmejian in the November election. The governor has criticized the mayor for police force reductions made after property tax-limiting Proposition 13 cut into city treasuries. But hiking rubbish fees could be labeled a “tax increase” by critics and run the risk of alienating hometown Bradley supporters. A spokesman said the mayor is traveling and will have no immediate comment on the recommendations.

Police Chief Daryl F. Gates, who appeared with task force members at the press conference, praised the panel and its proposals. An additional 1,500 officers would bring the authorized sworn force to 8,600 and, Gates said, would “go a long way to producing the kind of effect (on public safety) that people want.”

But anti-tax crusader Howard Jarvis warned Monday that he intends to prevent city officials on their own from raising new funds from garbage fees to pay for more police. If his latest initiative, which will appear on the November ballot, is approved, the rubbish fee would have to be submitted to voters, even if the council and mayor approved it beforehand.

Jarvis insisted in an interview that Los Angeles officials can afford to build up the police force within their current budget because, like all local governments, its revenues have been rising steadily. “If you doubled the taxes, they’d come out tomorrow and say, ‘We don’t have enough,’ ” Jarvis said.