Long Beach Passes $4-Million Rise in Tax, User Fee Hike

By BETTINA BOXALL

June 21, 1990 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

LONG BEACH —

City leaders, searching for more money to expand police services, this week approved a $4-million increase in taxes on utility customers as well as increases in a number of city fees.

The City Council decided Tuesday to turn to a tax that it can raise on its own in the wake of voters’ refusal earlier this month to approve a property tax levy that would have raised $7.3 million a year to hire more police officers. The increase in the utility tax, from 5% to 7%, will be felt by any resident who pays water, gas, electricity or telephone bills.

“We would be in good company at 7%,” said City Manager James Hankla, who told the council that numerous other cities in the region charge at least that much. Los Angeles, for example, imposes a 10% tax on utility use, and Santa Monica, 8%

The council approved fee increases for city garbage collection, towing, overdue library books, paramedic ambulance service, public health licenses and marina slips, and also for boat owners who live on their vessels.

The council decision came as it approved a $1.7-billion budget that also calls for city departments to pare their spending by 2% in the 1990-91 fiscal year, which begins July 1.

Hankla first proposed a 1% cut in city spending, but he said this week that an additional 1% would be necessary because year-end city revenues were falling behind projections and because the city ran up additional expenses beefing up police patrols for the past two months.

Still, he said he did not think the cuts would force layoffs or a noticeable reduction in city services. “I don’t think there will be any perceptible service cuts,” Hankla said.

Indeed, the budget allows some modest service increases in a variety of areas. For instance, a literacy program will be started by the public library system, staffing would be slightly increased for senior citizen programs at city parks, and 50 city vehicles will be converted so they burn compressed natural gas as fuel.

It is not clear exactly how the city will spend the extra money for more police services. Hankla is looking into the possibility of contracting with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department to patrol some of the city’s northernmost neighborhoods. Should that happen, the extra utility tax money would be used to pay for the sheriff’s services. If the council decides to continue using Long Beach police to patrol all of the city, the money would be used to expand the local force by another 44 officers.

The new budget already had provisions for hiring 14 additional officers and for hiring civilians to free up seven officers from administrative duties.

The council, facing a two-year-long crime wave that has created some political discomfort, swiftly embraced the funding proposal for more police as well as Hankla’s proposal to consider contracting with the Sheriff’s Department.

“Crime reduction is my top priority,” Councilman Warren Harwood said. “We’ve just got to get a handle on it, and if it takes extreme action . . . that’s what we’re going to do.”

Overall, the general fund, which pays for basic city services, is increasing nearly 5% to $287 million, and the figure for the total budget jumps 22% to nearly $1.7 billion. Much of that amount includes spending for self-supporting departments, such as the Harbor Department, over which the council has no control.

Even with the fee increases and cuts in department spending, the city’s reserve fund will be left with a meager $731,000 at the end of the next fiscal year, according to Hankla’s projection.

During a rambling eight-hour budget hearing, the council stuck closely to Hankla’s budget proposal. Only once was there much dissension, when Mayor Ernie Kell tried to partially roll back a 50% increase in marina fees for boat owners who live on their vessels.

Kell’s bid was voted down, 5 to 4, amid criticism that his plan would help only a few people and save them only a few thousand dollars.

The new Long Beach city budget includes a number of fee increases, among them:

FEE

Refuse collection

Library fines

Public health license fees

City towing fees

Paramedic ambulance fees

Oil permit & production tax

Utility users’ tax

Marina slip fees

Marina live-aboard fees