Delgadillo Speaks Out on Taxes, Term Limits
Los Angeles City Atty. Rocky Delgadillo, who has called for an end to the city’s gross-receipts tax on businesses and criticized the City Council for its handling of a term limits measure on next month’s ballot, conceded Thursday that those positions have “not made me friends at City Hall.”
Speaking to the Los Angeles Current Affairs Forum, Delgadillo reiterated those views.
The city’s business tax, he said, discourages companies from locating in Los Angeles or steers them to neighboring municipalities where the cost of doing business is lower. That robs the city of the other revenue those businesses otherwise would pay, said Delgadillo, a former deputy mayor for economic development during Richard Riordan’s administration.
Regarding the term limits measure, Delgadillo said he remains troubled by the council’s decision to couple the extension of the limits with other ethics measures. Delgadillo noted that City Hall lobbyists helped to draft the measure.
Still, the city attorney said he is confident that it will survive legal challenges.
Delgadillo declined to say whether he supported the extension of term limits for council members, currently limited to two terms in office. “I’ll let the voters decide,” he said.
Under the proposal, which appears on the Nov. 7 ballot, council members could seek a third term. The three officials elected citywide -- Delgadillo, Controller Laura Chick and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa -- would not be affected.
Delgadillo also decried the deepening problems of skid row, which he described as one of the worst urban areas in the United States. He declined, however, to reveal details of negotiations to reach a deal with civil rights advocates on how to handle the homeless who congregate in that area of downtown.
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