City Bills County $13.3 Million in Taxes : Government: L.A. wants parking levies that it says should have been collected over the past two years. The county says it is exempt.

In Los Angeles, it seems, even the government can’t escape tax bills.

The City of Los Angeles has presented the County of Los Angeles with a bill for $13.3 million in back parking taxes, touching off what could become an expensive legal showdown between the two layers of local government.

The city maintains that the county should have been collecting a city-imposed 10% parking tax at county-owned and operated parking lots during the past two years.

The county maintains that the city has no authority under the law to impose any tax on a higher level of government, and therefore the county is exempt from the tax. “The city has no ability to control the county’s use of its property,” said Bill Pellman, senior assistant county counsel.

But, the city counters, the parking tax is not levied on the county itself--but on the people who pay to park at the county’s lots.

The issue could well be decided by a third level of government: the state courts.

“That’s the way the system is set up,” said Michael Klekner, deputy city attorney.

Indeed, county attorneys were prepared to file a lawsuit today, seeking a restraining order to prohibit the city from imposing the tax. But County Counsel DeWitt Clinton was stopped Tuesday by the Board of Supervisors after Supervisor Gloria Molina appealed for a direct negotiation with city officials to resolve the matter instead of resorting to a potentially costly and bitter legal proceedings.

The city and county have sued each other in recent years over a variety of issues, including treatment of the homeless, at a cost of tens of thousands of dollars in attorney’s fees.

“You’re drawing a line with the city,” said Molina as she scolded Clinton about the planned lawsuit. “It will be all-out war. You’re making a big mistake.”

Molina said that she or board Chairman Deane Dana should attempt to meet directly with Mayor Tom Bradley or City Council President John Ferraro before filing a lawsuit.

When Clinton initially said he intended to file the suit regardless of Molina’s objections, Molina threatened to hire her own attorney to stop Clinton.

Clinton eventually backed down and agreed to withhold the lawsuit.

The issue will be heard Tuesday in a closed session of the Board of Supervisors, and the city’s Board of Review will hear the county’s appeal of the $13.3-million tax assessment on Dec. 17.

Most of the disputed parking tax revenues are funds that the city maintains should have been collected from county employees, who are charged as much as $120 a month for parking at county lots while they work. Also using the county-owned lots are visitors to county facilities, such as jails, beaches, courts and medical centers, as well as the Hollywood Bowl, Music Center and Coliseum.

The issue is not likely to stop with the county.

The city, Klekner said, is also attempting to charge millions of dollars in back taxes against another large operator of parking lots in Los Angeles: the state of California.