L.A. Watchdog — How does Metro expect us to understand its 27-page, 12,000-word ballot measure that would increase our sales tax by half a cent to a whopping 9½ percent, one of the highest rates in the county?
Or should we just trust Metro’s Board of Directors, led by Mayor Garcetti, his three appointees, and the four County Supervisors who voted to place this ill-conceived measure on the November ballot?
There is much more than a plain old multibillion dollar tax increase buried in these 27 pages of mumbo jumbo that will make the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority and its Board of Directors less accountable to the voters.
If the proposed half a cent increase in our sales tax is approved by two-thirds of the voters, Metro will collect an additional $860 million in the first year, bringing the total haul from the four voter- approved sales taxes to $3.5 billion in 2018.
However, unlike the 2008 voter-approved Measure R half-cent increase that was to expire in 30 years (2039), this tax does not have a sunset provision unlike the March version of this ballot measure. Furthermore, this measure proposes to make the Measure R half cent tax permanent.
As a result, Metro will be able to incur substantially higher levels of debt that will burden the next generation of Angelenos who will not have the opportunity to say “No More Debt” at the polls.
Questioning Their Ability
There are serious questions about Metro’s management and organization, whether they have the ability to manage daily operations, increase ridership and fares, properly maintain its aging infrastructure, and execute its ambitious expansion plans on time and on budget, especially given recent problems with the widening of 405 through the Sepulveda Pass and the Regional Connector.
Metro claims there will be enhanced levels of accountability for expenditures. How is it possible for seven politically appointed members of the Independent Oversight Committee to oversee a sprawling enterprise with 9,000 employees, $2 billion in annual expenditures, a $750 million operating loss, $15 billion in assets, and a multibillion capital expenditure program?
There is a number of pet projects in the measure’s Expenditure Plan. They include $1.1 billion for the bike path along the L.A. River, the “L.A. Street Enhancement & Great Streets Program,” and Jose Huizar’s Historic Downtown Street Car. Needless to say, other stinkers are buried in the $120 billion Expenditure Plan.
Metro has been actively promoting the Los Angeles County Transportation Improvement Plan, assisted by Mr. Garcetti, the Board of Supervisors, and all the special interests who will benefit from the increased revenue and the proceeds the billions in new debt. This measure is going to be a tough sell.
Rocky Road Ahead
In 2014, Measure J, the 30-year extension of the Measure R half-cent tax, received only 66 percent of the vote, just short of the two-thirds needed for approval. This ballot measure is more complicated as Metro is asking us to pony up an additional $860 million a year and $120 billion over the next 40 years.
City voters are frustrated with City Hall. For example, our city does not have a plan to repair our lunar cratered streets despite the fact that the city is entitled to more than 8 percent of the sales tax revenue generated from the four voter-approved sales taxes. As of now, the city is expected to receive over $18 billion from this Local Return program over the next 40 years.
Furthermore, Mr. Garcetti and the Herb Wesson-led City Council have refused to reform its finances, refusing to Live Within Its Means, ignoring the common sense, easy to implement recommendations of the L.A. 2020 Commission. These include multiyear budgeting, the establishment of an Office of the Transparency and Accountability to oversee the city’s fragile finances, and the creation a Commission on Retirement Security to review the city’s unsustainable pension plans.
Finally, we, the voters, are being overwhelmed by numerous ballot measures (see the note below) that will funnel billions of our hard-earned money to our inefficient, bloated state, county, and city governments which are controlled by self-serving politicians and their cronies.
Metro does not deserve a $120 billion blank check.
●●
The ballot measure shall read as follows:
Los Angeles County Traffic Improvement Plan. To improve freeway traffic flow/safety; repair potholes/sidewalks; repave local streets; earthquake retrofit bridges; synchronize signals; keep senior/disabled/student fares affordable; expand rail/subway/bus systems; improve job/school/airport connections; and create jobs; shall voters authorize a Los Angeles County Traffic Improvement Plan through a half-cent sales tax and continue the existing half-cent traffic relief tax until voters decide to end it, with independent audits/oversight and funds controlled locally?
●●
Note: In addition to Metro’s permanent $850 million increase in the county’s sales tax, voters are being bombarded by the city’s $1.2 billion bond measure to fund supportive housing for the homeless and the county’s evergreen $95 million parcel tax for its parks. The Los Angeles Community College District announced a $3.3 billion bond measure this week. And the state ballot has a $1 billion cigarette tax, a 12-year extension of the $10 billion of “temporary” soak-the-rich income tax, and a measure authorizing $9 billion in school construction bonds,
Other taxes waiting in the wings are a $4.5 billion bond measure to repair the city’s streets and sidewalks, a homeless tax to fund the County’s homeless initiatives, a tax to fund the city and County’s $20 billion stormwater/urban runoff program, and an increase in the Ssate’s gas tax. There is the issue of how to fund the unfunded pension liabilities of the city and County that exceed $65 billion (about $10,000 for each of the city’s 4 million residents).
Earlier this year, we were hit with an additional tax of $150 million associated with DWP’s $1 billion rate increase.
Mr. Humphreville writes L.A. Watchdog for CityWatchla.com. He is the President of the DWP Advocacy Committee and a member of the Greater Wilshire Neighborhood Council. Mr. Humphreville is the publisher of the Recycler Classifieds — www.recycler.com. He may be contacted at lajack@gmail.com.
