City-County Financing of Secession Study Urged

Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich called on the county and city of Los Angeles on Wednesday to pay for the estimated $1-million study on the feasibility of a San Fernando Valley secession from Los Angeles.

Valley activists are on the verge of collecting the 135,000 petition signatures needed to prompt the Valley cityhood study by the Local Agency Formation Commission, the state authority that controls municipal expansion in Los Angeles County.

Antonovich said it would be unfair to require the petitioners to pay the $1-million expense--a possibility suggested by one LAFCO member in June--and has filed a motion for the county to set aside $500,000 for the secession study. The motion also calls on the city to match the county’s appropriation.

“This fee should be shared by the county and the city of Los Angeles to remove an unfair burden on those seeking local control,” said Antonovich, whose district includes Glendale, Burbank and a portion of the northeast Valley.

Antonovich’s motion is scheduled to come before the commission Tuesday, and one member already is expressing doubt over its prospects.

Supervisor Yvonne Braithwaite Burke doubts the county has any responsibility to pay for a Valley secession study. Doing so also may set a precedent, and lead to a drain on the county treasury if other communities in the county also successfully petition for secession, she said.

“In addition, there are so many business advantages to residents who live in the Valley, it seems to me they may be willing to step forward and raise the funds,” Burke said.

Burke and Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky represent the county on LAFCO. In June, Burke argued that the group petitioning for the Valley secession study, Valley VOTE, should be responsible for the entire cost of the study. The LAFCO board rejected the idea, but has yet to determine how the study will be financed.

Richard Close, chairman of Valley Voters Organized Toward Empowerment, said the county has an obligation to help pay for a secession study, since under state law the county must fund 80% of LAFCO’s budget and expenses. The city is required to pay the remaining 20%, said Close, who is one of LAFCO’s alternate members.

It would be unfair for LAFCO to require Valley VOTE to bankroll the $1-million study, Close said, because the agency did not impose similar requirements when studying the incorporation of Malibu, Santa Clarita and Calabasas. The fee also would deter citizens from petitioning their government, a right protected by the U.S. Constitution, Close said.

Under California law, Valley VOTE must collect 135,000 signatures, or 25% of the Valley’s registered voters, to prompt a LAFCO study. The agency would then be required to examine the financial and social impacts of a Valley secession. If the results favored Valley independence, LAFCO could put the issue on the ballot for a citywide vote as early as 2000.

In August, the state Legislature set aside $340,000 for the study, contingent on the county and city picking up the rest of the cost. Gov. Pete Wilson, however, vetoed the funding proposal, saying it was a local matter and was not part of this year’s budget deal.

Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Sherman Oaks) asked the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development if any federal money might be available, but the congressman said that proposal was a long shot.