Voters Consider Marijuana Tax, Police Pension Reform
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Voters went to the polls Tuesday to elect seven City Council members and decide measures ranging from a marijuana tax to police pension reform as the city scrabbles to plug a projected $350 million budget hole.
Polls opened at 7 a.m. and were to close at 8 p.m. Ten ballot measures, seven council races and four school board seats were up for votes.
The ugliest and one of the most expensive City Council races is between Councilman Jose Huizar and businessman Rudy Martinez in the 14th District, which includes East Los Angeles.
Huizar's former campaign spokesman was fired after issuing an e-mail saying the campaign was about to put a "political bullet" in Martinez's forehead. Huizar mailers also have charged that Martinez failed to cooperate with an investigation into claims that he improperly held a police badge that belonged to an officer who died in the line of duty in 1979.
Martinez's advertising has accused Huizar of using taxpayer money to finance a "luxurious lifestyle."
In South Los Angeles, Bernard C. Parks is seeking his third term against Forescee Hogan-Rowles, an opponent lavishly funded by city employee labor unions. Parks, a former police chief, heads the Budget and Finance Committee and has been outspoken in calls to rein in employee benefits.
Many ballot measures are designed to raise or preserve revenues and cut costs as the city struggles with a looming deficit in the new fiscal year.
Measure M would raise up to $10 million a year by charging medical marijuana dispensaries $50 for each $1,000 in gross receipts. Berkeley and other California cities already tax the clinics, while other regions have struggled to ban them entirely.
The measure is opposed by Police Chief Charlie Beck, Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca and county District Attorney Steve Cooley. Critics say the measure will illegally try to tax dispensaries because they are nonprofit collectives, and because marijuana sales remain illegal under federal law.
Another measure would tax oil production in the city. The $1.44 per barrel excise tax would generate $4.1 million a year.
Two measures would tighten regulations on the quasi-independent Department of Water and Power after last year's bruising battle over requested rate hikes of up to 28 percent. The City Council objected to the hike in the midst of a recession. The DWP threatened to withhold $73.5 million in surplus funding that it was supposed to transfer to city coffers unless the hike was approved.
After weeks of dispute, a smaller increase was approved.
Measure I on the ballot would create an independent Office of Public Accountability, which would include a ratepayer advocate position, to safeguard consumers' interests. Measure J would require the DWP to finalize its budget by March 31 so the utility can notify the city of the amount of surplus funds it can transfer to the city for the July 1 fiscal year.
Also on the ballot:
- A new pension system for police, fire and harbor department employees hired after July 1. It would require personnel hired after July 1 to contribute some of their salary to pay for their health pension as a way to lower the city's mushrooming retiree costs.
- Election campaign financing forms, including a measure barring contributions from people or companies who are bidding for city contracts of $100,000 or more. Another would give City Council candidates access to more public funding.
- A measure to protect funding for the library system, which suffered drastic cutbacks in staff and hours last year due to the municipal budget crisis.
- Establishment of a contingency reserve to cover shortfalls and unanticipated expenses, an emergency reserve, totaling 2.75 percent of the city's general fund, in the event of fiscal emergency, and a budget stabilization fund.
- Changes in civil service hiring rules, particularly those affecting public safety employees.
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