Sales Tax

Hindsight, as they often say, is 20-20. There is a lot of grousing about the fact that $9 million -- two more million than needed for immediate Bluebird Canyon landslide repairs -- were spent in 2002 by the city to pay for the Treasure Island Park near the Montage Resort & Spa. The park is truly lovely and a marvelous place to show off the beauties of Laguna's coastline, but spending that much on it now seems like...

Costa Mesa officials have started a two-pronged lobbying effort to help relieve congestion on the streets where the Costa Mesa Freeway (55) ends. Step one: Make a fix for the freeway one of the centerpiece projects of an extension of the Measure M transportation tax. Measure M is a 20-year, half-cent sales tax that expires in 2011. It has generated millions of dollars for large freeway projects as well as routine street maintenance in Orange County's 34 cities, and the Orange County Transportation Authority has been floating trial balloons to see whether voters would support an extension.

Rima Shah and Darleene Barrientos Californians might be paying less for gas prices if Assembly Majority Leader Dario Frommer's bill to lower gas prices is successful. Frommer and Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez unveiled legislation this week to reduce gasoline prices by up to 12 cents a gallon. The legislation also strives to provide billions of dollars to fixing roads, highway and other transportation projects. "It's a creative way to give drivers a break in their gas credit," Frommer said.

Josh Kleinbaum Glendale officials still want to hire 100 new police officers in the next six years. They'll just have to find a new way to pay for them. The city has already approved the first phase of the plan, which includes 25 new officers to be paid with current funds. But the rest of the plan relied on $9 million per year from Proposition A, a bill that would have increased sales tax in Los Angeles County by a half cent to raise money for local law enforcement.

Saying the lives of "10 million people are in the hands of 22,500 cops in Los Angeles County," Sheriff Lee Baca and other law enforcement officials last Friday gathered to urge voter support for a half-cent sales tax increase that would put 5,000 additional officers on the streets. At a press conference at Eagle Rock High School, across the street from the scene of a gang-related shooting earlier this year, Baca, Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton and Glendale Police Chief Randy Adams said the sales tax increase, Measure A on the Nov. 2 ballot, would allow all law enforcement agencies in the county to add officers and expand operations.

In his Sept. 4 commentary ("It's not a giveaway, but an investment"), Mr. Dave Weaver accused Mr. Caruso's Town Center opponents of deception and outright lies. In doing so, he used misleading figures. For example, he admits the city will spend $62.6 million in today's dollars for land purchases and says the project will yield $109 million in city revenue over 30 years. This is an apples and oranges comparison. The $62.6 million is in today's dollars and the $109 million is in future dollars (with all the uncertainty of getting future dollars)

Jackson Bell Extra money the state received from a settlement with tobacco companies should be used to boost law enforcement in Los Angeles County, instead of a proposed half-cent hike in the sales tax, Supervisor Michael Antonovich said Wednesday. The county board voted 4-1 last month to add Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca's sales-tax measure to the Nov. 2 ballot, which would raise the levy from 8.25% to 8.75%. The higher tax would generate about $9.3 million for Glendale, $164 million for Los Angeles and $247 million for the other 86 cities -- 40 of which use the Sheriff's Department for law enforcement.

Josh Kleinbaum Throughout the state budget debates, lawmakers in Sacramento, particularly Democrats, discussed reforming the system for financing local governments, reducing cities' reliance on sales tax and replacing it with property tax. Such a shift will affect the city's financial return from the Americana at Brand shopping center project, city officials said. They're just not sure how. For now, they don't have to worry about it. The state budget, approved Thursday, does not include any major reform, and most city and state officials don't expect such reform any time soon.

Offer to pay for election date ridiculously transparent General Growth is at it again -- trying to seem like it is helping, that it really does care, throwing the big corporate bucks around -- like that is the answer to everything. Big bucks help people get what they want, whether it is right or wrong! Pay the $130,000 for the referendum vote in the November election. Why not? It paid handsomely for all the signatures to get it on the ballot! To the uninformed, this must seem like such a nice and generous offer.

Josh Kleinbaum Arguing that revenue sources for local government must be reformed, a key Democratic legislator is pushing an alternative to the deal between cities -- including Glendale -- and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger that has some city officials concerned. Schwarzenegger's deal includes support for an initiative on the November ballot that would give a constitutional guarantee that cities will always receive sales tax, property tax and vehicle license fees beginning with the 2006-07 fiscal year.