Tax to Fund Hiring of 100 More Police Is on Nov. 3 Ballot : Law enforcement: The measure would cost homeowners $38 to $60 per year. Businesses would be assessed about $4 per square foot.

Long Beach voters who want more police will get a chance in November to approve the hiring of 100 more officers--if they are willing to pay for them.

On the ballot will be Proposition H, which calls for a special tax to beef up the Police Department. It would cost homeowners $38 to $60 per year. Businesses would pay about 4 cents per square foot, which could up add up to thousands of dollars a year for the city’s largest employers.

City officials placed the issue on the ballot in hopes that Long Beach residents, tired of escalating crime, will agree to pay higher taxes for greater security.

Business leaders oppose the proposed tax, but a group of residents calling itself Taxpayers for a Safer Long Beach is organizing a campaign in favor of it.

Even some supporters acknowledge, though, that it will be tough to persuade people to dig deeper into their pockets in the midst of a recession. Even rougher will be convincing two-thirds of those who go to the polls, the required margin for the proposed tax levy to pass.

“Getting a two-thirds vote is extremely difficult. I just hope that, given the relatively low cost, people will vote for it,” said Councilman Thomas Clark.

The annual tax would be $38 for houses smaller than 1,000 square feet; $44 for houses 1,000 to 2,000 square feet, and $60 for residences larger than 2,000 square feet.

Apartment building owners would pay a fee based on the number of dwellings, ranging from $31 to $38 per unit. A hotel would be assessed about $5,000 to $12,000 a year and an office building $7,000 to $10,000. The maximum would be $44,600.

In recent years, skyrocketing crime and problems in the Police Department have been major issues of every city election. Although crime appears to have leveled off in the past year, residents are still reeling from several years of increases in violent crime that affected every corner of Long Beach.

The measure would increase the ratio of officers in the city from 1.7 to 1.9 per 1,000 residents. By comparison, Los Angeles has an average of 2.2 officers per 1,000 residents.

Proposition H would add 100 officers on top of the 49 the city will hire to replace Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies, who will stop patrolling parts of the city next summer.

Business leaders question whether city officials looked “under every rock” for additional funds before they hastily put the proposition on the Nov. 3 ballot.

The Long Beach Board of Realtors voted Thursday to oppose the ballot measure. The Chamber of Commerce also opposes it.

“We know we need more police officers. The question is: ‘Is this the way to go?’ ” said Dick Gaylord, president of the Board of Realtors.

Earlier this year, the Chamber of Commerce suggested that the city could save money by contracting out more city services. The chamber has also advised the council to set priorities for city services and programs, with the goal of eliminated those not considered crucial, chamber President Randal J. Hernandez said.

“If we decide that (adding officers) is a top priority, maybe we have to look at those areas that are nonessential to public safety, such as the Parks Department, or Community Development Department or Health Department,” Hernandez said. “That’s not to say that it will be easy, but it should be looked at.”

Business leaders have long complained that the city is not making an effort to attract and retain commerce. A new tax, they said, would further hinder such goals.

“The business community can’t take any more taxes,” Hernandez said.

Supporters of the tax, however, argue that the price is small for additional police protection.

“This is not a tax issue. This is a public safety issue,” said Nelson Wysong, chairman of Taxpayers for a Safer Long Beach.

“People don’t feel safe here,” said Wysong, who is also president of the 2nd District Neighborhood Assn. “Neighborhoods are going to ruin. . . . It’s also hurting businesses in this city.”

The taxpayers group, which has about 120 volunteers, is telephoning voters, organizing a rally and holding community meetings. The group hopes to raise as much as $70,000 and has hired a political consultant to run the campaign, Wysong said.

If history is any indication, Taxpayers for a Safer Long Beach faces an uphill battle. A similar proposal failed two years ago, when slightly more than 50% of the voters--short of the two-thirds majority needed--said they would pay more taxes for additional police officers.

But that proposal had no organized support. At the time, five of the nine City Council members, as well as Mayor Ernie Kell, were running for office and acknowledged that they were too busy to concentrate on the police tax measure. And the police union was engrossed in a battle with management and did not campaign for it either.

“We were guilty as everyone else. We were at war (with management) and didn’t give it any effort,” said Paul Chastain, president of the Police Officers Assn., which has donated $3,000 to a campaign endorsing Prop. H.

This time around, some elected officials, such as Councilmen Ray Grabinski and Alan Lowenthal, also are campaigning for the tax measure.

Most city officials, however, appear to be maintaining a distance.

Kell, for example, said he supports the measure but will not campaign for it. “I think the citizens’ group could do a better job,” he said.

Supporters of the tax measure have the backing of Long Beach Area Citizens Involved, a watchdog organization. In 1990, the organization did not take a position on the tax proposal.

President Marc Coleman said members of the group decided to support the tax proposal because crime continues to be “the major issue” and the Police Department is moving toward a community-based policing approach.

Chief William C. Ellis said that if his force increases from 734 to 834, he will expand the department’s community-based policing.

“It will really allow us to have more time for officers to become involved with problems in specific neighborhoods before they get out of hand,” Ellis said.

Ellis estimated that about 60 of the new officers would be used in patrol units, with another 20 assigned to specific neighborhood programs. Of the rest, 10 would be investigators and 10 supervisors.

Some of the wording in the ordinance, however, has a few opponents worried that Proposition H does not guarantee 100 officers. Activist Dan Rosenberg, who wrote the ballot argument in opposition, complained that the ordinance only states that the special tax would be used to hire “up to 100” officers.

Both Ellis and City Manager James C. Hankla insisted that they would use the money to hire 100 additional officers.

One problem backers of the tax measure may encounter is a lingering anger among supporters of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

The City Council earlier this year rejected the idea of contracting services for the entire city with the Sheriff’s Department, which now patrols the north and northeastern parts of Long Beach.

Instead, the council decided to end its contract with the Sheriff’s Department by next summer. That angered the deputies’ supporters, who said they got better service from the Sheriff’s Department than they did from local police officers.

“I think that Proposition H will be viewed (in those areas) as a referendum of sheriff’s (deputies) vs. police,” said Councilman Les Robbins, who wanted to abolish the Police Department in favor of hiring deputies. Robbins said he will vote for Prop. H but does not believe it will pass.