The city of Los Angeles is seeking a 120% increase in the assessment that property owners are charged for streetlight maintenance. At a March 13 City Council meeting, Councilmember Monica Rodriguez observed, “We’ve never been in such a situation where we have been so far underwater with the restorations” of streetlights that are out of service.
The problem is copper wire theft and vandalism. However, instead of stepping up enforcement or increasing penalties for these crimes, the city wants more money from property owners.
Under Proposition 218, an initiative passed in 1996, assessments of this kind can’t be imposed until each property owner is informed and given an opportunity to vote. The process begins with the city preparing an engineer’s report to show that the amount of the assessment is proportionate to a special benefit for each parcel of property that will be charged. Ballots are weighted to match the percentage of the assessment billed to each owner. If the returned ballots with “no” votes outweigh “yes” votes, the assessment cannot go forward.
The total “special benefit” assessment is $111,762,500. A single-family home on a quarter-acre lot would be assessed $147.08 per year, with an annual adjustment for inflation.
Property owners in Los Angeles have good reason to vote “no,” and not just because of the extra cost.
At that same City Council meeting, Monica Rodriguez grilled the director of the Bureau of Street Lighting, Miguel Sangalang, voicing her concern that the department would receive “a big windfall of money without a plan” to prioritize, maintain and fortify existing resources. She drew a comparison to homelessness spending, “when everyone’s got a ton of money” and no plan.
Sangalang referred vaguely to a “suite of solutions” and “constant review of data.” He mentioned a report that 60,000 of the city’s roughly 216,000 streetlights were eligible for replacement with solar-powered streetlights that don’t contain copper wire to tempt thieves.
This is a failure of government. The city is demanding more money from residents to pay the cost of dealing with continuous damage to essential infrastructure instead of going after the people who are causing the damage.
Ballots must arrive back to the city (not the county) by June 2 to count in the tabulation. For a replacement ballot or more information, property owners can email bsl-assessment@lacity.org.