Taxation and Citizens’ Right to Recall Officials

Go for it, Covina!

Just recently, the citizens of Covina recalled their entire City Council (by 5,000 votes) because their City Council had put in a 6% utility tax. Vox populi!

We in R.P.V. (Rancho Palos Verdes), however, have the good fortune to have voted in City Council members (three of them) at the last election who promised faithfully that they would put any tax increase to a vote of the citizens of R.P.V. Aren’t we lucky?

Wait. What are these newspaper articles concerning the R.P.V. City Council meeting of July 6, 1993? Did I read that Steve Kuykendall (mayor pro tem) and Jacki Bacharach (councilwoman up for reelection) did not think it necessary for the people to vote on the issue (of taxes) because they (the R.P.V. City Council) feel it is their responsibility to raise our taxes?

Well. Recall movements are not new in R.P.V. Don’t underestimate the R.P.V. citizens. We already had an increase in taxes: the Landscape and Lighting Assessment Tax ($50 a year), which appears as an additional payment on all our property taxes. Then, our garbage fees are up almost to $20 a month! (The city gets a franchise fee from the company.)

We in California are in a recession; many people are unemployed. Citizens are tightening their belts. Maybe we need another look at budget belt tightening? Whatever happened to the recommended budget cuts brought forth by the now recessed Long Range Finance Committee?

AUDREY M. CARLAN

Rancho Palos Verdes

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