Long Beach : Council Calls for Ballot Measure on Police Surtax

The City Council, which has frequently discussed the need for more police, is taking steps to draw up a ballot proposal that asks Long Beach voters to approve a property tax surcharge to pay for an additional 75 police officers.

Although a task force studying ways of paying for more police officers has not yet made any recommendations to the council, the council this week asked city staff members to prepare the ballot measure. It would come before the council within the next month for a vote, and if approved, would be placed on the ballot sometime next year.

The 650-member Police Department has long complained that it is seriously understaffed, although a private consultant’s report last summer concluded that the department could solve many of its staffing problems without hiring more officers if it changed some of its personnel policies. Those personnel changes are now the subject of negotiations with the police union.