Mayor Garcia Used His Officeholder Account (Allowable Sum Tripled By Council Action Last Year), With Support From LB Police Officers Ass'n and LB Firefighters Ass'n (Both With Contracts Up For Negotiation) To Fund Survey He Cited In Urging Sales Tax Hike

LBReport.com

First (Again) on LBREPORT.com
Follow-Up / Coverage In Depth

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(Mar. 7, 2016, 4:57 p.m.) -- LBREPORT.com has learned that Mayor Robert Garcia used his officeholder account (funded by contributions from various individuals, entities and interest groups, with an annual allowable sum tripled by Council majority voted action in early 2015), with support from the Long Beach Police Officers Ass'n and Long Beach Firefighters Ass'n (two public employee unions whose contracts will be coming up for negotiation) to fund a survey whose results Mayor Garcia cited in urging the City Council to put a measure on the June ballot that would raise LB's sales tax to 10% (which is 9% in Signal Hill/Lakewood and 8% in most OC cities.)

The tax would be for general tax purposes that the current and future Councils could spend on any general fund items, including pay raises)

In an email this afternoon (Mar. 7), the Mayor's Chief of Staff, Mark Taylor, followed-up on LBREPORT.com's inquiry to Mayor Garcia (as he dashed between Meet the Mayor appearances on Saturday Mar. 5.) Mr. Taylor's email states:

"The public opinion research was funded by Mayor Garcia’s office holder along with support from the Firefighters Association & the Police Officers Association. The polling firm used is the same firm the Mayor used in his last campaign."

[Scroll down for further.]

As reported (first again) on March 5 by LBREPORT.com, survey results selectively released by Mayor Garcia on Feb. 11 were part of a broader survey that sought respondents' opinions of Long Beach Police officers, of Mayor Garcia, of the City Council; sought responses on specific uses for the tax funds and generated survey results sorted by race, gender and age. (LBREPORT.com detailed coverage here.)

A summary of the broader survey results (obtained by LBREPORT.com from the City under the CA Public Records Act) showed (general description) strong public support for increased revenue to increase police and fire staffing and fix potholes and maintain local streets (details here.). However the proposed tax increase that the Council put on the ballot doesn't specify these items in the tax text itself, which leaves the measure a general tax that current and future Councils can spend on basically any general fund items.

Under Prop 13 and Prop 218 (provisions added to the CA constitution by votes of the people), items that are specified in a tax measure itself legally require that the tax be used for those purposes and require passage by a 2/3 vote of the people. The City Council has adopted non-binding statements of its "intent" to fund police, fire and infrastructure items, and approved creation of a Mayor-chosen, Council approved citizen oversight committee that could offer recommendations on use of the tax revenue without any legal power to make changes, which stop short of legally binding guarantees and allow passage of the tax by a 50%+1 vote.

The broader survey summary obtained by LBREPORT.com indicates that the public's opinion of Mayor Garcia's job performance and of the City Council [no individual Councilmembers detailed in the summary we received] were over 60% positive (details here.)

LBREPORT.com believes the complete survey results have not been fully released at this point. Developing.