SANTA ANA : Tax Hike to Increase Police Force Rejected

The City Council has rejected Councilman Richards L. Norton’s proposal to ask voters if they are willing to pay increased property taxes to hire 50 more police officers.

Norton proposed asking residents to vote on whether the city should create an assessment district that would have increased property taxes by an average of $50 a year. The district would have raised $4.5 million annually that would go into a special fund to increase the size of the 351-member Police Department.

The council voted 4-3 Monday to kill the proposal. Mayor Daniel H. Young, who argued against the proposal, suggested the intent was political because it is an election year.

Voting with Young were council members Daniel E. Griset, Patricia A. McGuigan, and Miguel A. Pulido Jr.

However, Norton said he believed that Santa Ana residents were “tired of crime.”

“I’m not trying to make this a campaign issue,” said Norton, who is up for reelection in November. “If we don’t do something now, more and more people will die.”

Last year, Santa Ana had 53 homicides, up from 38 the previous year.

According to state law, voters can raise taxes for police protection with a two-thirds vote. But city councils also have the ability to establish special assessment districts that require residents to pay extra fees for more police officers, Norton said.