Sales Tax Hike Makes Nov. Ballot

Los Angeles County voters will decide on Nov. 2 whether to raise the sales tax a half-cent to pay for as many as 5,000 new police officers and sheriff’s deputies after the Board of Supervisors agreed Tuesday to put the measure on the ballot.

Sheriff Lee Baca, who suggested the tax hike and threw his political weight behind it, bounded onto the dais to hug the supervisors after they voted 4 to 1 to send his measure to the election booth. Then he headed to the steps outside the county Hall of Administration, flanked by Los Angeles Police Chief William J. Bratton and county Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, to declare that the campaign was on.

“The Board of Supervisors has made a very courageous decision today. No one likes taxes. I don’t like taxes any more than anyone else,” Baca said. “But we in Los Angeles County cannot protect 10 million people with 26,000 cops. It’s a simple math problem.”

By contrast, about 37,000 police officers patrol New York City, which has about 8 million people.

County officials project the half-cent sales tax would raise $560 million in the 2005-06 fiscal year. In the city of Los Angeles, Bratton said, the tax revenue would help him drive down crime rates and add between 1,400 and 1,800 officers to his force of 9,200.

“We feel quite comfortable that with this infusion of officers over a four-year period that we could reduce crime, and particularly gang-related crime, by 50%,” Bratton said.

Baca said the tax hike would fund about 1,000 new deputy positions in a department that has lost 1,200 over the last two years.

Supervisor Michael Antonovich cast the lone vote against putting the measure before voters, saying the board ought to shift money from health services to public safety instead.

And Supervisor Don Knabe made it clear that, despite his aye vote, he worried that a higher tax could harm the local economy. “I don’t think this is a good way to do government, but also historically I’ve been inclined to let voters decide their own fate,” he said.

The initiative, dubbed the Public Safety and Homeland Security Tax Act, requires a two-thirds vote for passage. It would boost the county’s sales tax from 8.25% to 8.75%, higher than any other California county except Alameda, where the rate is already 8.75%. Most of the state’s counties have a 7.25% sales tax.

But the proposed rate is comparable to other urban areas. In New York City, the sales tax is 8.625%; Chicago’s rate is 8.75%.

Los Angeles County residents will spend an average of $8,340 apiece on taxable retail sales this year, according to the Los Angeles Economic Development Corp., a nonprofit group that tries to attract and expand local businesses. If voters approve the higher rate, an average resident would pay an additional $41.70 in sales taxes per year. The Sheriff’s Department estimates the figure would be even higher -- as much as $65 per person.

“It’s going to have more of an impact on low-income households,” said Jack Kyser, chief economist for the Los Angeles Economic Development Corp. “For a rich person, the sales tax is incidental. If they want a Dyson vacuum, they’re going to go out and buy one, regardless of what the sales tax brings the final bill to. But for a low-income household, every penny counts.”

Every city in Los Angeles County would receive a share of the tax revenue, based on its population or, in the case of the smallest cities, based on its current spending on law enforcement. The measure would require each city to increase its own public safety budget annually to match the growth in sales tax revenue.

About $164 million would go to the city of Los Angeles, with the county’s 87 other cities dividing up $256 million. The rest would go to the county, with $44.9 million earmarked for sheriff’s services in unincorporated areas. The county jails, hit by violent outbursts and plagued by under-staffing in recent years, would reap 9% of the proceeds, an estimated $50.4 million per year.

Other justice departments, including probation, the district attorney and the public defender’s office, would share another 6%, or about $33.6 million.

Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley objected to that provision because he said it would not guarantee a steady amount of money “needed to handle a predictable and significant increase in criminal caseloads.”

Earlier proposals had suggested a separate 3.5% take for the district attorney, about $19.6 million annually, rather than lumping his share with other departments. Now it would be up to the supervisors to decide how to divide the 6% among county agencies.

“Board members assured me that my office would be adequately funded through the county’s portion of the new tax,” Cooley said in a statement. “I and my staff will carefully evaluate the ordinance prior to my decision as to whether or not I will actively support it.”

Baca, who spent months talking up his proposal in a failed effort to collect enough voter signatures to put it on the ballot, has amassed a potent coalition of backers. Supporters include Los Angeles Mayor James K. Hahn, the Los Angeles City Council and dozens of elected officials and local police chiefs.

The sheriff has pledged to raise up to $2 million for the campaign, which has been managed by veteran Democratic consultant Joe Cerrell.

“It will be very grass-roots,” Cerrell said, adding that he plans to rely on local officials to tell constituents how much the sales tax would generate for their city. He does not expect much of an organized opposition.

“This is God, country, mother, the whole routine,” he said. “There shouldn’t be another side to this.”

But Kris Vosburgh, executive director of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assn., said his group would oppose the measure though it lacks the money to wage a campaign.

“People in this county already feel overburdened,” he said. “I think people are feeling tax fatigue.”

*

(Begin Text of Infobox)

Where the money would go

*

The proposed half-cent increase in Los Angeles County’s sales tax would generate an estimated $560 million annually for law enforcement. It would be allocated as follows:

Los Angeles County Jails: $50.4 million

District attorney, public defender, probation: $33.6 million

Regional communications systems: $11.2 million

*

Unincorporated areas: $44.9 million

City of Los Angeles: $163.6 million

Other cities: $256 million

*

Source: Los Angeles County

Los Angeles Times