ANAHEIM : Vote Set in March on Tax, Salary Plan

Advisory votes on a public safety tax, mobile home park rent control and a proposal to more than double City Council members’ salaries will be included on Anaheim’s special election ballot in March, the council decided on a 4-0 vote Friday.

Also, the council placed a measure on the March ballot that would open the job of mayor to any city resident by eliminating the current requirement that the post must go to a City Council member.

Councilman Irv Pickler was absent.

The March election was called after residents proposing the mobile home park rent control ordinance gathered more than 16,000 signatures in support of an initiative to qualify it for the ballot.

Residents will be asked to vote on Mayor Fred Hunter’s proposed tax plan, which would declare the entire city a Public Safety Assessment Distict and ask residents if they are willing to tax themselves for more police, fire and paramedic services. The amount of the proposed tax has not been decided yet.

City officials estimate that 40 additional police officers, and 20 non-sworn personnel are needed, at a cost of about $4.15 million. They did not provide any estimate, however, for the number of firefighters and paramedics sought.

The ballot measure will ask residents if they favor the tax, leaving the details to be worked out by the council.

Council members estimated roughly that the tax would be needed for 10 to 15 years, even though they have not yet detailed the annual cost per household.

Also, residents will vote on a measure to allow council members to increase their salaries from $400 monthly to $1,000 and boost the mayor’s pay from $800 monthly to the $1,000 limit.

The new ordinance, if approved by the city’s voters, would allow the council to increase salaries 5% annually beyond the $1,000 limit.

This proposal is a scaled-down version of the council’s earlier plan to triple their salaries to $1,200 monthly.