Remember: C Stands for "Correct" and D Stands for "Dumb"

By Tom Long

Vote Yes on C and No on D

Before my election RPV was spending about $1 per person per day. It was not properly taking care of its storm drains and is still not properly taking care of all of its streets. The user fee adds less than 10 cents per person per day to the city's spending. So what its opponents are saying is that they will not give even one thin dime for the city's financial health. This is nonsense.

Q. Do the opponents of the user fee favor leaving storm drains unrepaired?

A. Before the storm drain failures damaged Western Avenue and homes on Sea Cove during the rains of early 2005 they urged the city not to do the repairs until the drains failed. PVP Watch took the view that proposed repairs were unnecessary or could wait for many years.

Q. Why does Mayor Long say we need $1.6 Million in taxes on top of almost $18 Million in revenues to remain solvent?

A. Various estimates have been stated at various times, but it is true that about $1.2 million is the amount that the user fee tax will raise at the outset. It can increase by 2% per year. It is paid by the 80% whose properties drain to city owned storm drains and not by others--that is just a function of state law. The tax will be a dedicated revenue stream that can be used only for storm drain repair. Prior to my election regular unrestricted revenues were used for storm drain repair pretty much only in emergencies after a lot of damage had been done and only at a much greater cost than regular maintenance and replacement would have cost. The user fee tax will be committed to storm drain repair and watched by an oversight committee. Unlike PVP Watch I do not think that future community leaders will devote the resources necessary once the problems we have had are forgotten.

Q. Then why does Mayor Long say we need the money because RPV is a "Poor (Revenue) City"? PVP Watch claims that General Fund Revenues have exceeded Expenditures by about $25 Million over the last 7 years. Why isn't that enough?

A. PVP Watch is distorting the facts. The "general fund" is only one of many city accounts. Its "surpluses" are often used to pay expenses in other accounts, including storm drain repair. RPV has not had multimillion dollar surpluses in its overall budget once all expenses are taken into account. Indeed we have put the majority of the general fund surpluses the city has had since my election in 2003 into storm drain repair and it still is not enough. The average California city has $1300 per person per year to spend. Some cities get 1/4th of the property tax their residents pay. RPV Gets 6% of your property tax and has less than $400 per person per year (about $1 per day) to spend--not much more than half of what other cities on the hill have and lower than all South Bay cities except Lawndale. What are the unnecessary "wants" PVP Watch would cut? In the past they have said eliminate open space preservation, eliminate PVIC (the whale watch center), etc. Yet in those cases the money the city spent was only a small fraction of the total cost--the rest was state or federal grants and private donations. We have found no grants or donations of any significance for storm drains. RPV's residents are not poor, but the city itself is compared to every city around it. Real estate values in our neighboring cities are higher in part because the residents of those cities value municipal services and are willing to pay for them. Palos Verdes Estates imposed a 10% utility tax on itself to repair its storm drains. It just renewed a parcel tax of nearly $700 per year to help protect vital emergency services.

Q. Why wasn't the user fee suspended this year given the city's finances?

A. The council took the entire surplus this year and devoted it to storm drain repair. As a result, that money combined with the user fee revenues means that we can accelerate the McCarroll Canyon storm drain repair so that it is done within the next few years rather than being delayed for as much as a decade. You should recall McCarroll Canyon is the failed storm drain that caused over a dozen homes to be flooded with a wall of mud and has resulted in a $12 million lawsuit against the city. The user fee taxes should never come off your tax bill until all homes in the community are adequately protected. You spend probably $500 a year or more insuring your home against fire. Perhaps you spend another $800 or more per year insuring against earthquake. But no one I know has insurance against mudflows or landslides caused by storm drain failures. An average of $87.70 per year is a low price to pay for some protection for the values of all of our homes.

Q. But won't we have Terranea and more Trump revenues soon to pay for everything?

A. The Trump golf course has been operating for some time now. No one expects it to produce more than perhaps $300,000 per year. Terranea may produce much more money, perhaps $4 million or more per year, if it succeeds. On the other hand like other resorts of its type it may need tax concessions once it is actually built. It has run into huge cost overruns (reported to be more than 100%). Its presence will likely also increase many city costs, including street paving and police protection. If and when it produces more revenue than we need to meet the additional costs it creates we can discuss what to do then.

Q. Why not make storm drain repair the city's highest priority to assure it gets done?

A. As I reminded Mr. Hildebrand at our community leaders' breakfast repairing storm drains is not the city's highest priority. Our police protection through the sheriff's department (our largest single budget item) is our highest priority. And it is now increasing at a faster rate (7% this year) that exceeds both inflation and RPV's revenue growth. We have to meet that need. There are not many places to cut. Without the user fee storm drain repairs will still be done, but more slowly and less efficiently.

Q. What about reimbursements by other levels of government?

A. FEMA did reimburse the city for the Western Avenue sinkhole the city repaired. Good thing since Western Avenue was not even in the cost estimates for storm drain repair.

Q. Isn't it unfair for 80% of the people to pay for the good of everyone?

A. But what is PVP Watch's alternate suggestion? If the point simply is that the city as a whole should pay some of the cost of storm drain repair because we all use the roads, that is already happening. Since my election in 2003 over $9 million in general revenues have been committed to storm drain repair.

Mayor Tom Long tomlong@palosverdes.com Work: (213) 612-7871 Home: (310) 544-2978

VOTE YES ON MEASURE C AND NO ON MEASURE D to retain the user fee this November.