Extra Police, Term Limit Issues OKd for Ballot : Council: Two measures affecting city officeholders and an oversight panel for the Department of Animal Regulation are approved.

Competing proposals to limit the terms of elected officials and a plan to increase civilian oversight of the Department of Animal Regulation were among four measures unanimously approved Tuesday by the Los Angeles City Council for placement on the April ballot.

The council also granted initial approval to another proposal, narrowly defeated last year, that would raise property taxes to hire 1,000 police officers. The police tax measure must go before the council again next week for a second vote because it failed to receive unanimous approval.

Council members Joan Milke Flores, Ernani Bernardi and Hal Bernson voted against placing the police tax measure on the April 20 ballot, which also will feature primary races for mayor and eight City Council seats.

Civic activist and mayoral candidate Richard Riordan led the petition drive that initiated one of the term-limit measures. The second is the council’s response to the Riordan plan.

Both proposals would restrict the mayor, city attorney, controller and City Council members to two four-year terms. The Riordan measure is more restrictive because it would limit half of the current council members to only one more full term. The alternative measure assures that all current council members would be able to run for two more full terms.

If both term-limit proposals receive a majority, the one with the most votes would take effect.

The police tax measure, which would cost the owner of a 1,500-square-foot home an extra $73 a year in property taxes, would provide the funds to hire 1,000 more officers for the Los Angeles Police Department.

Proponents, led by Councilman Marvin Braude, said voters should be able to consider the proposal again because they gave it 63% of the vote in November. Braude said he believes the measure can obtain the two-thirds majority needed for approval in April.

Flores argued against the measure, saying that property owners should not be the only ones asked to pay for more police. Bernardi said officers could be put on the street more quickly by simply placing more funds in a police overtime account.

Another proposal, approved unanimously for the ballot, could also beef up the Police Department. The plan, sponsored by Councilman Nate Holden, would allow the city to rehire retired police officers for up to a year to make up for staffing shortages.

The other ballot measure approved unanimously Tuesday would increase citizen control over the Department of Animal Regulation by putting a commission in charge of the department’s operations. The commission that currently oversees the department serves in an advisory capacity.

Critics say the department needs stricter supervision to prevent mistreatment of animals and excessive destruction of pets at city animal shelters.

The City Council is expected to decide Friday whether to place two more measures on the April ballot, one of which would strip the mayor of his authority to veto City Council redistricting plans. The other would take away the mayor’s power to veto school board redistricting proposals.

The City Charter amendments were first proposed by an angry council in 1986 after Mayor Tom Bradley overrode the council’s approval of new City Council boundaries. At the time, Bernardi accused Bradley of subverting the will of the majority and allowing a minority of six council members to prevent a settlement in the hard-fought redistricting debate.