Comments
LA WATCHDOG - With very little discussion, the City Council requested the City Administrative Officer prepare a report within 45 days on revenue generating opportunities in preparation for ballot measures to be considered by voters in June and November of 2026.
Items to be addressed include:
- A review of the City’s Four-Year General Fund Budget Outlook. [Note: the existing Outlook is misleading because it does not include any assumptions about the impact of future labor agreements.]
- Returning responsibility for sidewalk repairs to property owners upon the sale of the property.
- Amending the transient occupancy tax to include the rate paid by the hotel guest, not the lower rate paid by intermediaries such as Expedia or Booking.com.
- A temporary or permanent increase in the transient occupancy tax (currently 14%) in anticipation of the 2028 Olympics.
- The issuance of infrastructure bonds for the Fire Department and Department of Recreation and Parks. While unclear, a parcel tax to fund services for these two departments may be considered.
- Increase the base formula for Recreation and Parks (currently 0.0325% of assessed value) to offset the City’s “full cost recovery” program that diverts 45% of charter mandated revenue to the General Fund.
- The impact of the recent fires on property tax revenue. It may also include the impact on other economically sensitive taxes.
- The expiration of the tax amnesty program
We can also expect increases in our Solid Waste Recovery Fee and our Street Light Maintenance Assessment to cover costs for these special funds that are now being funded by the General Fund.
We need to be alert to the fact that the City Hall will use the wildfires and the Olympics as excuses to raise our taxes over and above the amounts needed to cover those related expenses. For instance, the CAO indicated that the structural damage to Recreation and Parks, the Library, Sanitation and Street Lighting was $275 million. But do not be surprised if our fiscally irresponsible elected officials tell us that we need to approve the issuance of $1 billion in general obligation bonds to fund the damage to the infrastructure.
The message: Be aware of our elected elite and their self-serving cronies using the wildfire crisis and the Olympics to mislead us in their efforts to pick our pockets. We are smarter than that. Hopefully.
(Jack Humphreville writes LA Watchdog for CityWatch. He is the President of the DWP Advocacy Committee, the Budget and DWP representative for the Greater Wilshire Neighborhood Council, and a Neighborhood Council Budget Advocate. He can be reached at: [email protected].)
