Mayor Villaraigosa set to back sales tax increase
Proposition A, half-cent sales tax
LOS ANGELE, Calif.—After withholding his support on the issue for weeks, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is set today to officially endorse Proposition A, the half-cent sales tax increase on the March 5 ballot.
Villaraigosa will announce his support for the measure at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where he is expected to be joined by City Council President Herb Wesson, Los Angeles police Chief Charlie Beck and Los Angeles Fire Department Chief Brian Cummings.
Proposition A is opposed by mayoral candidates Wendy Greuel, the city controller, and Jan Perry and Eric Garcetti, both members of the City Council.
“We cannot cut and tax our way to a sustainable budget,” Garcetti said Thursday in response to the release of a report by City Administrative Officer Miguel Santana claiming that if Proposition A is defeated, as many as 500 police officer jobs could be on the chopping block, and the city’s projected deficit of about $216 million could rise to $360 million.
“We must grow our economy,” Garcetti said. Proposition A “would hurt businesses and hurt those families hardest hit by the economy.”
Proposition A is expected to generate more than $200 million a year, but because it would be increased mid-year if it is approved, it would only generate about $100 million in the first year, Santana said.
LOS ANGELES, Calif.—The city’s police, fire and other departments are all in danger of being subjected to hefty budget cuts in response to voters’ rejection of a proposed half-cent sales tax, the president of the City Council said today.
Councilman Herb Wesson said that without the tax, things are “going to get ugly” for the police and other city departments.
“There will be some very hard choices,” he said. “Every department will be on the table. Nothing is sacred.”
LOS ANGELES, Calif.—The fate of a proposed half-cent sales tax to fund public safety and other city services will rest in the hands of Los Angeles voters today, with some city leaders calling it essential to residents’ safety and opponents slamming it as a money grab by a city unable to control its own spending.
LOS ANGELES, Calif. — Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa will visit Beijing, China, later this month to tout Los Angeles as a trade hub and tourist destination, and to attract Chinese investment to the city.
Villaraigosa will be accompanied by harbor, airport and tourism officials from May 26-29 as he meets with Chinese government officials and businesses.
The Port of Los Angeles and Los Angeles World Airports will foot the bill for the $80,000 trip, using non-taxpayer funds, officials said.
LOS ANGELES, Calif. — Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and other civic and religious leaders took part in a silent prayer on the steps of City Hall today for victims of the Boston bombings.
“We’ve demonstrated here in Los Angeles we will not live in fear,” Villaraigosa said.
LOS ANGELES, Calif. — Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa today released his final budget proposal before leaving office, in which he called for solving the city’s projected budget deficit by rescinding scheduled employee pay raises and requiring them to pay 10 percent of their health
premium contributions.
The idea of employees paying more into their healthcare benefits “is not a radical notion,” but rather a “sustainable notion,” Villaraigosa said in outlining his proposed 2013-14 budget.
