Library Assessment

The L.A. County Board of Supervisors, by a three-to-two vote, approved the imposition of a lespecial “library” tax, to be added to our property tax bills (Aug. 31). This will produce about $16 million per year for the county library system. These are the same supervisors who voted themselves a huge pension increase three years ago, which was created by “spiking” their final compensation to include all fringe benefits in the pension. The annual cost of such spiking is not less than $100 million per year. They refuse to reverse their positions on that matter, even though L.A. is the only county in the state to have adopted such a self-serving (almost criminal) scheme.

I say: Give back the pension money, men and women of the board, and you will have plenty of money “left over” for libraries, playgrounds, pools and all the other niceties and necessities of life in our glorious county.

ROBERT E. GREEN

Sherman Oaks

When confronted with declining revenues and apparent disinclination to reduce government expenditures, the L.A. County Board of Supervisors just succeeded with the latest round of fiscal treachery. Instead of cutting an unpopular department or service, they instead held funds back from the sacrosanct library system. Then they presented the fabricated choice of slicing libraries to the bone or adding a new tax. Guess which one they picked? Howard Jarvis just reached 10,000 r.p.m.

ANDREW J. BECWAR

La Canada