The signs indicate they're "Paid for by the California Association of Realtors Issues Mobilization PAC." The signs below were visible on a private property light pole in the SW Spring St./Palo Verde Ave. shopping area in ELB.

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Many of the signs are attached high on private property light poles (unknown on superficial viewing if done with the property owner's permission.) There are firms that do this type of work for hire for election campaigns; in the 2014 election cycle, an independent expenditure committee (contributions raised with help from then-Mayor Bob Foster) hired one such firm to afix signs that appeared all over town supporting Robert Garcia's election as Mayor.

Measure LB, placed on the ballot by a Feb. 23 vote (without dissent) of LBCC's Board of Trustees, would increase property tax bills within the LBCC District (includes Long Beach, Signal Hill, Avalon and part of Lakewood) by $25 for every $100,000 of a property's "assessed value." Thus, if the L.A. County Tax Assessor has assessed your property at (random figure) $400,000, you'd pay $100 more as part of your property tax bill every year. If your home is assessed at $600,000, you'd pay $150 more every year. If it's assessed at $200,000 (for those who bought homes years ago), you'd pay $50 more per year and so forth.

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It's the third time since 2002 that LBCC has sought a debt bond property tax assessment. In 2008, LBCC obtained voter approval (with no organized ballot opposition) for a $440 million debt bond for new construction, telling voters it aimed to have campus construction complete by 2020. (The campaign was overseen by Robert Garcia, hired by LBCC to a management/administration position after Councilman Frank Colonna, for whom Garcia had worked as an aide, finished second to Bob Foster in the 2006 Mayoral race.) In 2008 measure effectively extended the tax rate for a $176 million debt bond approved by voters in 2002.

Exactly how much the CA Ass'n of Realtors' PAC is spending to oppose the LBCC-sought 2016 property tax assessment isn't visible yet online. Long Beach area taxpayer advocate Larry Boland, who submitted the ballot argument in opposition to Measure LB, says the signs aren't his handiwork...and expressed surprise when we told him about the signs in preparing this story.

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In contrast to the sales tax increase to 10% being sought on the same June ballot by LB's Mayor and City Council (Measure A), LBCC Measure LB isn't a "blank check." Because it's a debt bond, LBCC can only spend the assessed tax on specified purposes "of construction, reconstruction, rehabilitation, or replacement of District facilities, including the furnishing and equipping of District facilities, or the acquisition or lease of real property for District facilities" in a project list. An LBCC webpage includes the project list and an administration statement at this link. Its online narrative text doesn't mention the amount taxpayers would pay but that sum can be found in a link provided to the Resolution itself here. ("[T]he tax rate on taxable property located within the District required to repay such [debt] bonds [up to $850,000,000) will not, based on the District’s reasonable expectations at the date of issuance, exceed $25 per $100,000 of assessed value." Resolution, Section 8(e) and similar text in attachments.)

Total debt service is estimated in the final sentence on the final page of Exhibit C to the Resolution at over $1.9 billion dollars.

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LBCC can impose its "Measure LB" property tax assessment if at least 55% of voters, not just property owners, within the LBCC district (includes LB, Signal Hill, Avalon and part of Lakewood) vote to approve it.

The L.A. County Registrar plans to send out vote-by-mail ballots for the June election starting on May 9. "Election Day" is June 7.