City Looks at Levies if Areas Leave L.A.

The Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday approved a legal finding that new cities in the San Fernando Valley or Harbor areas might have to make payments to Los Angeles as the price of secession.

The 10-4 vote gave the city attorney’s office permission to submit the opinion to the county agency that is setting the rules for a potential breakup of Los Angeles.

Council members who opposed the measure said it would force residents of areas leaving Los Angeles to pay for services that they don’t get, perpetuating one of the major grievances that prompted the secession movements in the first place.

“It basically tells you if you’ve been wronged, the only way you can do anything about it is to agree to continue to be wronged in the same way,” Councilman Joel Wachs said.

But Councilman Nate Holden, who voted to approve the opinion, said it simply upholds the principle under state law that a section of a city or county cannot break off without compensating residents of what’s left behind from losses.

Holden said it might undercut support for secession. “People will suddenly realize it costs more to separate than stay together.”

Los Angeles County’s Local Agency Formation Commission will review the city’s opinion as it prepares its own finding on the legal requirement of “revenue neutrality” for secession moves.

The agency can put a secession proposal before voters only if it concludes that it won’t harm residents in either jurisdiction.