Torrance Voters to Decide on Cost-Cutting Measures

Torrance voters will consider two City Charter amendments intended to save the city money. Neither has drawn any organized opposition.

Measure QQ on the Nov. 8 ballot seeks to cut the cost of prosecuting violators of city ordinances.

Violation of a city ordinance now is a misdemeanor, which is a criminal offense. Suspects have the right to a jury trial, and the city must pay court costs. A misdemeanor is punishable by a fine of up to $1,000 or up to six months in jail or both.

The ballot measure would permit the city to consider some violations “infractions,” non-criminal offenses punishable by a fine of up to $500 but no jail time. Violators may dispute an infraction before a judge, just as a person might contest a traffic citation, but there is no right to a jury trial.

It costs the city at least $500 a day in attorney fees to prosecute a misdemeanor violation, said City Atty. Stanley Remelmeyer. If the city can redesignate an offense as an infraction and simply fine a violator, the city will save money, he said.

Remelmeyer said that if the measure passes, he expects the City Council to change many misdemeanor violations into infractions. As an example of the kind of offense that might be downgraded, he mentioned leaving a vehicle on a city street for more than 72 hours.

“The courts are overloaded already,” he said. “And since infractions don’t stay on your record, people will be more likely to pay up.”

Misdemeanor charges, on the other hand, do appear on a person’s criminal record, he said.

An infraction requires a fine of $100 for the first offense, $200 for a second offense, and a maximum of $500 for a third or subsequent offenses within a year.

The other cost-saving ballot issue, Measure RR, would allow the city to publish newly adopted ordinances in summary rather than in full.

Remelmeyer said the city pays about $100 per page for newspaper publication of new ordinances. He noted that the publication of the recently amended Uniform Fire Code alone cost the city $800.