Mayor Garcia and most Councilmembers indicate they plan to talk to community members/groups about a proposed tax increase ballot measure...and then bring the issue back for decisions that a Council majority will make on the type of tax increase and its ballot timing.

[Scroll down for further.]

City management opened by presenting an oral report with Power Point slides on various tax increase ballot measure options. Mayor Garcia then spoke for seven minutes. As he did in his State of the City message, Garcia cited a management-asserted $2.8 billion figure for infrastructure needs over the next ten years [a figure presented at a Dec. 22 Council meeting with five Councilmembers present that then served as the basis for requesting a management report on seeking a tax increase.]

Garcia said the city's largest need is infrastructure but also cited need for police and fire. He said it's been roughly 25 years since LB voted to increase revenue (1991) [other than bonds for LBCC and LBUSD]. Says City eliminated 700+ positions, made city government leaner and more efficient, partnered with city employee unions for pension reform, and said the City has tried to be as efficient as possible. Mayor Garcia says he doesn't support new taxes unless they "sunset" and says some portion of the tax revenue should go to strengthen city reserves. He took no position publicly on the type of tax increase(s) he favors or its ballot timing (June or November.)

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All Councilmembers except Supernaw then echoed themes voiced by the Mayor.

Supernaw indicated his opposition to raising utility users tax (UUT) and other regressive taxes after Uranga said he views raising the UUT as "recovering" what was "lost" [when LB voters lowered UUT from 10% to 5% over five years through a petition initiative in 2000.]

Councilwoman Suzie Price stressed the need for paramedic and police services but indicated she opposes raising business license fees in order to keep the city "business friendly." All Councilmembers (except Supernaw) cited various "needs" (infrastructure, police, fire, paramedics) that additional revenue might pay for. None mentioned what city staff acknowledged: that if the Council put a tax increase measure on the June ballot, it could pass with 50%+1 votes as a General Fund ["blank check"] measure that Councilmembers could spend on any General Fund items regardless of "needs" they describe now. A tax for specified items is legally possible with 2/3 voter approval.

During Council colloquy, city management staffer Lea Eriksen indicated the City has had a "consultant" on the proposed tax increase; Councilwoman Mungo also referred to communications with the consultant. [The City has thus far far failed to release these and other related materials under the Public Records Act requested by LBREPORT.com in December. See LBREPORT.com coverage here.]

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Councilwoman Price attacked critics of Council's record: "[F]or anyone who says, you know, there's a lot of fat and we're wasting money, you have no idea what you're talking about; you have no idea what you're talking about. I challenge you to actually look at the books and stop the rhetoric because that's not what we've been focused on for the last two years, we've been living very prudent times here in the City of Long Beach and that's just the truth."

Vice Mayor Lowenthal added, "I echo Councilwoman Price's statement that anyone who thinks that there is fat really has not done their homework, that hyperbole, and invective and rhetoric and all of that really has to stop because that is just, the purpose of that is just distraction."

No Councilmembers advocated additional cost savings or spending reforms for taxpayers...or taking action to implement further aspects of a study by Management Partners (paid for by taxpayers) under the Foster administration [cited by LBREPORT.com in this perspective piece which was last discussed publicly by Council's Budget Oversight Committee in August 2014. [Mayor Garcia and a new Council majority took office in mid-July 2014.]

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The Mayor and nearly all Councilmembers spoke in favor of some type of tax increase (type and timing unspecified) for a total of 1 hour, 17 minutes (includes Council colloquy with city staff) before inviting the public to speak. Members of the public then got three minutes each.

Jack Smith said before throwing [his verb] something on the ballot on which voters may so "no," the Council should have its Economic Development Commission make suggestions on how to increase City revenue collected without raising taxes.

Laurie Angel, an 8th dist. Council candidate against incumbent Al Austin, said she supports looking at opportunities besides taxes to increase revenue [such as economic development] and said a tax increase should be a last resort. Ms. Angel said the Council has made costly spending decisions over the past few years and cited the Civic Center project, as well as giving up sales tax revenue through Council-approved "incentives" for some buusinesses that decrease sales tax that the City would otherwise receive. Ms. Angel said if the Council does propose a tax increase measure, it should first have a very robust discussion with the public and not throw the measure at the public at the last minute.

Tom Stout, co-founder of the Long Beach Taxpayers Ass'n, likened the Council's proposal to "Ground Hog Day"...saying every five or six years the hog reappears again. Mr. Stout noted that immediate past Mayor Foster raised over $700,000 in an attempt to get a property parcel tax passed [required a 2/3 vote] and failed in Nov. 2008. Mr. Stout said Lakewood's streets are in better shape because it contracts for its services and it's a lot less expense for them than in Long Beach.

Mr. Stout said no matter how much money the City of LB has, taxpayers will never get the benefits that city employees do because LB Councilmembers have already shown that the "family" of city employees comes first. He said a recent study shows that only 23% of city employees live in Long Beach, meaning most of those asking LB residents to raise taxes take their paycheck and go to another city.

Regarding Mayor Garcia's claim that the city had cut 700 "positions," Mr. Stout said those were phantom unfilled positions...and were used by LBPD to fund overtime. Mr. Stout ended by noting that Long Beach now has a "$200,000 Club" of city employees, with some headed toward a "$300,000 Club" when Mayor Garcia called "time" on him after three minutes.