Irvine : Group Fights City’s Right to Raise Taxes

A residents group has announced that it will circulate petitions supporting a measure that would strip the City Council of its power to impose new taxes and fees without voter approval.

Formation of the group, Silent Majority Against Reckless Taxation, was prompted by a preliminary $42-million budget proposal for fiscal year 1987-88, an increase of $4.4 million in revenues over this year, according to Janet Colclaser, a former Irvine planning commissioner and a member of SMART.

“The question we’re asking is, ‘How much government do you want to fund?’ ” Colclaser said. “The citizens should be asked whether or not they wish to fund all the programs they have funded in the past and pay for it with more taxes or if they’d rather see some cuts in the budget.”

Among the additional fees and taxes proposed by the city are a 10% live entertainment tax, an increased business license fee, the creation of a landscape maintenance district, a utility user tax and a 1% assessment on new development, Assistant City Manager Paul Brady said.

Brady emphasized that the list of new revenues is matched by a list of proposed cuts if the council prefers to balance the budget that way. Included in that list are 81 full-time positions that could be eliminated and recreational and community services that could be reduced.

Because of a slowdown in development and a drop in the rate of increase of the city’s sales tax money, Irvine’s expenditures climbed faster than revenues this year, Brady said. But, he said, “we’ve had similar situations before . . . and we’ve always resolved it.” However, this year is the first time the city has considered introducing new taxes and fees to balance the budget, he added.