Ultimately, We Pay

Given the number of follies taxpayers find themselves financing every year, what’s one more? Last week, the politicians who sit on the board that may ultimately supervise a San Fernando Valley secession put off a decision on the biggest question so far: Who pays? By not making a decision, the board of the Local Agency Formation Commission, or LAFCO, practically guaranteed that somehow, some way, taxpayers will end up footing the bill.

As with any complicated divorce, the dissolution of Los Angeles would cost plenty. Estimates for just the preliminary feasibility study run between $1 million and $4 million.

Volunteers from Valley Voters Organized Toward Empowerment, or VOTE, have been gathering signatures on a petition demanding such a study, which is the first legal step toward detaching from Los Angeles. LAFCO executive director Larry Calemine recommended that VOTE be held responsible for the cost because state law allows the agency to bill for “reasonable” costs. VOTE balked at paying.

VOTE leaders suggest that the costs be borne by government, not, as they put it, by “the people.”

It’s a distressing distinction, one that goes to the heart of what’s wrong with governance--not just in Los Angeles but nationwide. Government is the people and the people are government. By pushing responsibility away toward some ill-defined and vaguely hated thing called “government,” the connection between residents and their representatives grows weak.

That’s the problem in Los Angeles and will be the problem if the Valley breaks off into its own city of 1.3 million people. The politicians keeping council seats warm may change but little else likely will. Apathetic voters spawn apathetic governments, where blame and responsibility get shifted and diffused until no one is accountable.

At last week’s meeting, for instance, elected officials seemed to agree that someone needed to pick up the cost of the secession study. So said representatives from state, county and city governments. But each wanted the other to come up with the money. In the end, the pols dodged responsibility and ordered Calemine to find the money.

Here’s an idea:

If support for VOTE’s secession study is as strong as its backers claim, then raising a few million dollars should not be much of a problem. The group needs the signatures of 135,000 registered voters to get the feasibility study launched, but is aiming for nearly 200,000. Arguably, each signature represents someone sick of the way government operates and who wants change. Surely that’s worth $10 or $20 to them. For the price of a movie and popcorn, residents who want change could feel connected again by making a real investment in government.

Or, they could invest their time and really make a difference. Even as VOTE circulates its petition, two commissions are working to rewrite the charter that governs Los Angeles. Their efforts seek to keep Los Angeles whole in addition to making the entire city function more efficiently and with more input from residents. Participation lets elected officials know that residents are determined to forge a new way of running Los Angeles.

When residents look to someone else to pay, we all end up bearing the cost.