City Officials Vote to Back Prop. 218

Bucking the trend of city officials who have urged voters to turn down Proposition 218, leaders here say they think the ballot measure is a good tax-fighting tool.

City councils in Buena Park, Brea and La Palma have all passed resolutions urging voters to defeat the measure on the Nov. 5 ballot because it could devastate municipal services.

Sponsored by the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assn., it would put new controls on how assessments can be levied and how cities can generate fees for services such as police and fire protection.

The bill has become controversial because it would allow for people and corporations based outside the United States to have a say-so in city finances.

Four of the city’s five council members sided with the Jarvis association this week, arguing that the measure would give property owners a means to fight new assessments. The taxpayers group has published material saying that cities have used assessments to regain the taxes they lost under Proposition 13.

“We continually hear complaints about landscape assessments and Mello-Roos taxes,” Mayor Joanne Coontz said. “Even though there are a couple of questions” about the effects of Proposition 218, she said, “I felt this measure is a benefit to the community.”

Councilman Dan Slater voted against the resolution, saying he objects to the bureaucracy involved and the fact that “foreigners and large landowners will have more votes than American citizens will.”