ed, the city’s Rent Control Board voted unanimously two weeks ago to allow landlords to pass the full cost of the Measure S school parcel tax increase to tenants.
Can you imagine? Not one of the five board members voted for “renters” on this. So tenants will see Measure S costs tacked on to rents beginning in January, 2004, and remain there for six years. Measure S adds $225 onto an existing ($104 plus cost of living increases) school parcel tax. It was narrowly approved by voters in June. The measure was heavily supported by the Santa Monicans for Renters Rights leadership — many of whom actively worked on the campaign.
With all five RCB members in SMRR, it smells as if a deal was made between SMRR and landlords. If landlords supported the measure, it would cost them nothing and renters would, as usual, pay the full weight of the tax.
With SMRR supporting the tax increase and landlords bragging “we’ll be allowed to pass it along,” it’s obvious that SMRR leaders used renters as pawns to further their political agenda with school supporters and single-home families with children in school.
The RCB has allowed landlords to pass along virtually all recent tax and bond expense, including the Santa Monica College bond issue approved by voters last year and the original school parcel tax approved a couple of years ago.
All of this suggests that the backroom deals, hidden agendas and conspiring on a course of action out of public sight is a violation of the state’s Brown Act. Maybe someone will come forward and file a complaint with the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office.
I’m for supporting the schools, despite what my critics say. I always said the city could pay and this tax increase was unnecessary. The City Council recently gave away $7.4 million for a homeless shelter instead of coughing up a similar amount for schools. Maybe that’s why someone is currently conducting a phone survey measuring public reaction to a proposed voter initiative mandating a percentage of the city’s budget be spent for education.
But with city elections one year away, will Santa Monica renters continue to be victimized and swallow the drivel promulgated by the renters’ rights organization and vote for another two years of lies and higher taxes? We’ll see. (Bill Bauer is a longtime Santa Monica resident and a freelance writer).
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on November 7, 2003. Read the original PDF.