Council Turns Down Tax Measure for Police

Los Angeles City Council members Tuesday rejected a proposal from Mayor James K. Hahn to ask voters in March to raise the city sales tax to hire more police officers.

The mayor began pushing the idea within days of the election earlier this month, when voters narrowly defeated a countywide half-cent sales tax measure.

Because 64% of Los Angeles voters backed the measure, Hahn proposed that the city try again, putting the tax on the same ballot with his reelection bid.

But many council members, along with business groups, questioned the wisdom of pursuing it so soon and warned that a city-only tax could push business out of Los Angeles and into neighboring communities such as Pasadena and West Hollywood.

“I think the council acted prudently to vindicate the will of the people,” said Councilman Antonio Villaraigosa, who is running for mayor and who featured himself in television commercials supporting the sales tax measure. “The people voted against it just a couple of weeks ago,” he said, explaining why he does not support a measure in March.

But Villaraigosa and other council members reiterated their commitment to boosting the Los Angeles Police Department, which, at about 9,000 officers, is spread thinner than most big city departments in the U.S.

Council members left open the possibility of putting a measure before voters later in the spring, but said they plan to study other options to raise the money for hiring more police officers, including tripling garbage collection fees or instituting a parcel tax.

On Tuesday, Councilman Greig Smith proposed yet another idea: hiring 250 officers this spring, essentially by borrowing money now that the city expects to receive from the state in the next few years because of the passage on Nov. 2 of Proposition 1A. The proposition limits the state’s ability to shift tax revenues from cities and counties to the state general fund.

Council members said they were interested in studying Smith’s idea.

But Councilwoman Janice Hahn, the mayor’s sister, said she wants the city to go back to voters as soon as possible with a sales tax.

“I’m willing to go back to bat for them,” she said, adding that she wants proponents to run “a better campaign” next time.