Quality of Life Will Suffer From Decline in Local Taxing Authority

I’d like publicly to compliment a group of participants in Leadership Long Beach Class of 1991 who recently produced a report on the city’s quality of life and how government is financed to support and enhance it. The report is entitled “Our Quality of Life, What It Is and How Do We Keep It?” and was authored by Ginny Baxter, Ernie Davis, Bruce Hart, Manny Jones, Bob MacKinnon and Norm Reed.

It’s an excellent summary of our city’s fiscal resources and constraints, and it sounds an appropriate alarm about our deteriorating quality of life. It concludes that citizens must be educated about the problems of financing local government . . . and points out the dire consequences of failing to provide solutions.

Unfortunately, many citizens are “down” on government--not without cause--and are loath to entrust it with more of their hard-earned dollars. However, in failing to support local government and schools, citizens themselves suffer in the long run with poor services and inferior education for their children.

It’s really too bad local government doesn’t assess and collect all taxes, remitting to state and federal just those amounts for services that cannot be provided locally. Since accountability for effective results and for elected officials’ performance is strongest at the local level, that might well be an ideal system for funding our democracy.

Unfortunately, however, most taxes are collected at the state and federal levels where citizens have the least opportunity to say how their tax dollars should be raised and spent and have the hardest time relating cost to benefit. Our city government and school system have lost their taxing authority, yet are left with responsibility for paying those services having the greatest impact on our daily lives.

The property tax, which once was the major source of revenue controlled locally, has been severely limited by Proposition 13. In fiscal year 1991, it barely covered the cost of the Fire Department, contributing nothing toward police, park and street maintenance, or other vital city services. Sales tax has replaced it as an important source for local government, but not for schools. Schools are now almost entirely dependent on the Legislature and state government for funding--a frustrating situation for those of us concerned about the quality of public education for our children and grandchildren.

Today, cities are competing for sales tax dollars so fiercely among themselves that some now offer major financial incentives to lure large retailers within their boundaries, sometimes making unwise bargains. Some are spending present dollars and foregoing short-term revenue to buy future improvement that may never occur sufficiently to offset what they give up. This form of sales tax competition is not healthy for anyone but the big retailers!

Is there an answer to the dilemma of funding city government and local schools? Not a quick or easy one, I’m afraid. But a good start is recommended by the Leadership Long Beach report: Educate our citizens about the problems of local government financing and its direct impact on their lives and well-being. Make sure they understand that no matter how many tax dollars they send to Sacramento or Washington, very few “trickle down” to support local government. The fact is that for the past decade state and federal support for local government, which used to be substantial, has been steadily reduced and has now all but vanished.

Our citizens must become convinced that the system for financing local government is seriously flawed and must be completely overhauled . . . and are willing to voice their concerns. Real change can only be accomplished at the state and federal levels, where almost all fiscal power now resides. No effective overhaul will happen until enough voters understand the problems of local funding and are sufficiently concerned to force their elected representatives to deal with them or face the consequences at the polls.

Your readers may want to make a start on their own education by obtaining a copy of the Leadership Long Beach report from: Leadership Long Beach, One World Trade Center, Suite 350, Long Beach 90831-0350.

ROBERT E. FRONKE

City Auditor

City of Long Beach