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Tax Protesters Vow College Recall Move

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TIMES STAFF WRITER

Backed by hundreds of angry protesters, three of the largest homeowner federations in the county Wednesday announced the start of a recall campaign against Los Angeles community college trustees for preparing to enact a tax that would impact 1 million property owners.

More than 500 people, most of them opponents, turned out for a final public hearing on the controversial tax proposal Wednesday night near downtown Los Angeles. The Los Angeles Community College District’s Board of Trustees was slated to take a final vote on the measure later in the evening.

District officials want to levy a $12-per-year tax on homeowners and varying amounts for other types of property throughout the 882-square-mile community college district to improve college facilities. Opponents have so far failed in their efforts to get the trustees to let the public vote on the issue.

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“This is egregious what you’re doing. It’s almost un-American,” complained Patricia Bell Hearst, president of the Federation of Hillside and Canyon Assns., which joined with the San Fernando Valley Federation and the Westside Civic Federation to announce the recall attempt at the meeting.

The homeowner groups, who say they represent more than 500,000 residents, said they would attempt to recall any trustee voting for the tax. The homeowners said they would need to obtain signatures from 10% of the voters in the district--more than 100,000 people--to place a recall measure on the ballot.

Protesters followed each other to the microphones, one after another, to denounce the tax. One man, who had been shouting throughout the meeting, was removed by college district police when he tried to approach the dais where the trustees sat. Trustees also have received letters of protest from owners of about 23,000 properties, district officials said.

Much of the furor centers on the fact that the district’s seven-member Board of Trustees can legally impose the tax, a so-called landscaping and lighting assessment district, as early as this November without the voter approval required by Proposition 13 for most tax measures.

Under the proposal, the district would levy an annual tax of $12 on owners of nearly 770,000 houses. The tax would come to $9.36 per unit on the owners of nearly 900,000 apartments and condominiums, $66 per acre on commercial property, and $51.36 per acre on industrial property. The charges could last for 20 to 30 years.

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The Los Angeles district wants to raise about $21 million annually with the tax, which district officials call an assessment.

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The district could then issue long-term bonds--to be repaid by income from the tax--to fund an estimated $205 million in maintenance projects at the nine college campuses, which are mostly in a dilapidated state.

However, under the 1972 state Landscaping and Lighting Act, the colleges cannot use the assessment proceeds directly to add classes or make other academic improvements, such as renovating classroom buildings. They can use the money only to spruce up lighting, landscaping, parking and recreational facilities--although they could then use other funds diverted from such projects for academic purposes.

The district’s board would pick the actual projects from a list of more than $445 million in proposals by the colleges.

For instance, Southwest College wants $2 million for state-of-the-art scoreboards, City College wants $54 million to buy and develop a park, East Los Angeles College wants $20 million for a stadium parking structure, and Pierce College in Woodland Hills wants $6.9 million to build a 2,500-seat equestrian complex.

The college district includes all of the area within the Los Angeles Unified School District boundaries, plus the territory of more than a half dozen suburban school districts. Thus, affected property owners include those throughout the city of Los Angeles and most of the San Fernando Valley, although areas with their own college districts, such as Glendale, are excluded.

But there are still obstacles looming. The state Assembly earlier this month passed a measure that would deduct $1.10 from the college district’s state funding for every $1 raised through the assessment district, which would effectively kill college officials’ plans.

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That measure is awaiting consideration in an Assembly-Senate conference committee considering the state budget, and would have to be approved by the state Senate and signed by Gov. Pete Wilson to become law. The measure is sponsored by Assembly Majority Leader James Rogan (R-Glendale) and Assemblywoman Paula Boland (R-Granada Hills).

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Meanwhile, tax foes led by the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assn. expect to hear later this month that their “Right to Vote on Taxes Act”--which also could affect the district’s efforts--has qualified for the November state ballot. Proponents say that measure would expand the range of taxes and assessments that require property owner approval.

Joel Fox, president of the group, said he does not expect to file a lawsuit challenging the college district’s efforts because the state Supreme Court already ruled in 1992 that public agencies have the right to enact such assessments without the approval of affected property owners. “A lawsuit I don’t think would prevail,” he said.

However, Jonathan Coupal, the group’s director of legal affairs, said the Jarvis ballot measure could force the college district to obtain public approval of its assessment plan even if the plan is already in force, because not all of the money would go to repay bonds. Under the ballot measure, preexisting levies would be exempt only if they raised money exclusively to repay bonds.

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