Voters League supports tax increase

The Laguna Beach Unit of the League of Women Voters of Orange Coast supports Measure A -- the special election measure which would temporarily raise the sales tax in Laguna Beach in order to help offset budget cuts in the city’s general fund resulting from the landslide.

The City of Laguna Beach has an obligation to restore proper access to Bluebird Canyon and to make necessary repairs so that rains, winds and potential fires will not create further disasters for the people who live adjacent to the slide area and in the canyon beyond. The cost of the emergency repairs falls outside anything the City of Laguna Beach was prepared to pay for from its budget.

Although the attributes of various tax mechanisms can be debated, the fact is that the emergency in Laguna Beach requires expediency and flexibility regarding what can reasonably be achieved at the polls. A temporary increase to the sales tax would be a reasonably fair sharing of the tax burden that would not have an onerous impact on public debt. The proposal to fund an account to help pay for future disasters would benefit everyone in Laguna Beach, residents as well as visitors unlucky enough to be visiting during a disaster.

Maintaining a sustainable community requires that we take a long view in solving the immediate financial problem caused by the landslide. Paying now by temporarily raising the sales tax rather that selling off city-owned properties and gutting city projects and services will meet today’s needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet theirs.

As City Manager Ken Frank said at the special City Council meeting on Sept. 16, the financial burden created by the landslide will prove to be a “pain shared” by city departments, resident taxpayers, slide victims and visitors to Laguna Beach.

The Laguna Beach Unit of the League of Women Voters endorses Measure A as an appropriate and necessary attempt to fund city government efficiently, adequately and effectively. We urge the voters of Laguna Beach to vote yes on Measure A.

[Note: The proposed 5% sales tax increase will be on the ballot for the Dec. 13 special election.]

* JEAN RAUN and LINDA BROWN are members of the Laguna Beach Unit of the League of Women Voters.