Community College Trustees Take Step Toward Levying Tax

Los Angeles Community College District trustees took the first step Wednesday toward seeking an annual tax on about 1 million properties in the county, under an obscure state law that bypasses the requirement that voters approve tax increases.

The Board of Trustees voted 4-2 to survey voters on an annual charge on virtually every property in the 882-square-mile district. Under one proposal, the tax would be about $8 per single-family home and more than $30 for multifamily and commercial parcels.

Supporters said the tax would raise millions to add extra classes and spruce up dilapidated campuses in the nine-school, 97,200-student district. Foes, however, argued that the plan violates the tax-limiting spirit of Proposition 13 by bypassing voters.

“This is a defining moment,” said board President David Lopez-Lee, who wrote the proposal.

Trustee Lindsay Conner opposed the measure, saying, “When government violates the law, it loses the trust of the people. You can’t just say we need it, we’ll take it.”

The district, which covers most of metropolitan Los Angeles, is the largest community college system in the United States, stretching from Sylmar to San Pedro. The proposed districtwide tax would affect about 45% of the 2.24 million parcels in the county.

Under the board’s vote, the district also plans to spend up to $30,000 to conduct a telephone poll of voters to determine what level of tax, if any, they would be willing to accept. Board members said they probably would not proceed with any tax that did not garner the approval of a poll majority.

If the measure gains final approval, officials said Los Angeles would become the first community college district in California to levy such a charge under the state’s obscure 1972 Landscaping and Lighting Act, one of the few remaining mechanisms to tax property without voter approval.

If enough of those polled approve, officials plan to hire a consultant to prepare legal documents required to institute the tax and will have to schedule two public hearings on the proposal before it could be brought back to the board for a final vote.

Although the final amounts could change, the proposal presented to the board Wednesday calls for annual levies of $8 per single-family home, $32 per commercial tract and $34.32 for apartment and condominium parcels. At that rate, the plan would raise an estimated $18 million per year.

With that money, district officials said they would be able to add hundreds of extra classes and finance up to $127 million in bonds to pay for a range of campus facility upgrades, mostly involving parking, lighting, landscaping and recreational projects.

Under a preliminary projects list, Pierce College in Woodland Hills would get the most money ($28 million), followed by Los Angeles Trade Tech ($23 million), East Los Angeles College ($22.2 million), Southwest College ($18.9 million) and Mission College in Sylmar ($15 million).