Separate election would’ve cost L.A. County $10 million
DOWNTOWN L.A. With the threat of $10 million in avoidable costs looming, the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday placed a half-cent sales tax increase on the November ballot, reversing an earlier decision that would’ve resulted in an extra and expensive election this fall.
The board last week voted against incorporating the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s sales tax proposal — which would pay for transit and highway projects — into the county’s general election, supervisors Michael Antonovich and Don Knabe leading the opposition. Supervisor Gloria Molina’s abstention defeated the motion 3- 2, forcing MTA officials to consider holding a separate election on the same day as the presidential election, potentially costing taxpayers millions.
Upon learning the expenses associated with the special election, Knabe, who represents portions of the San Gabriel Valley and South Bay, decided to ask the board to reconsider.
The vote on Tuesday again ended up 3- 2, but with the balance shifted in favor of placing the measure on the ballot, Molina this time casting a “nay” vote and Knabe in favor. “(Knabe) was opposed to the burden for additional election costs being placed on taxpayers,” David Sommers, press secretary for Knabe’s office, said. “There is a chance there could be a lot of voter confusion on election day with this literally being run as a separate election with separate poll workers.”
Knabe is still opposed to the measure itself and has promised to campaign for its defeat.
The proposal still has one more hurdle to overcome — state officials must pass legislation, AB 2321, that would lift the exist- The reversal came as good news to local transit activists who have long bemoaned the lack of adequate funding to make transportation projects, like the Subway to the Sea, a reality.
The measure, which would increase the county’s sales tax from 8.25 to 8.75 percent, would raise approximately $40 billion over the next 30 years, funding initiatives that could go a long way toward alleviating congestion.
The proposal must get a two-thirds vote in order to pass.
The MTA board in July voted to place the measure on the ballot.
“I’m glad they made the practical and most cost-efficient decision,” Pam O’Connor, the past MTA chairman and Santa Monica city councilmember, said.
The motion’s defeat last week caught some by surprise, including Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, who represents communities on the Westside.
“I think (Knabe) was struggling with it last week too and I think he recognized that there was a consequence to not consolidating the election,” Yaroslavsky said.
Yaroslavsky noted that the county has never failed to consolidate an election and the law is clear that the board must approve one unless there are certain findings that would make it unfeasible. The current proposal didn’t present such findings, he said.
The MTA last week filed a lawsuit asking the court to order a consolidated ballot. The agency will now ask the judge to dismiss the lawsuit.
Yaroslavsky said that he will support the sales tax.
“This is a once in a generation opportunity to make a dramatic positive impact on public transportation in Los Angeles County,” he said. “Traffic has gotten exponentially worse.”
The separate election could’ve had an impact on the voter turnout for the second ballot, though transit activists say they are unsure whether it would’ve been positive or negative.
“There could be as much as a 30 percent drop (in votes cast) from the top of the presidential ticket to the last item on the ballot,” Denny Zane, the co-chair of the Subway to the Sea Coalition, said. “No one can say for sure because being a supplemental ballot in a way calls out to voters — they might check out the first five items on the county ballot and go to the supplemental ballot to check out what it is.”
Bus riders in Santa Monica seemed receptive to a sales tax hike.
“If the tax increase builds a subway to Santa Monica, that would be great because it takes more than two buses right now to go anywhere,” Judi Madrid, a Santa Monica resident who relies on the bus for transportation, said.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on August 13, 2008. Read the original PDF.