In a setback to proponents of San Fernando Valley cityhood, lawyers for the commission planning a referendum on secession have found that Los Angeles cannot be forced to give up parks, libraries and other property without compensation.
Secessionists are seeking the transfer of all city property in the Valley, along with fleets of garbage trucks, street sweepers, firetrucks and police cars. They contend that Valley taxpayers are entitled to a fair share without payment to Los Angeles.
But in an opinion released Monday, Los Angeles County Counsel Lloyd W. Pellman advised the commission handling secession that in most cases it could not order the transfer of city assets without payment.
Secessionists said they disagreed with the legal opinion.
The opinion raised the possibility that a Valley city could be forced to raise millions of dollars to buy some of its basic infrastructure. Among other things, Pellman found, the Valley city would have to pay Los Angeles for parks, libraries, firehouses and police stations. And if the economic slump persists beyond 2002, it would have to do so as local governments are struggling to avert service cuts amid a drop in tax revenue.
Pellman said the state constitution bars any "taking" of assets from Los Angeles in the same way it prohibits seizure of property from private citizens without "just compensation." Los Angeles city officials had no cost estimate on the city's Valley properties.
The only major assets that could be legally transferred without payment, Pellman said, are city streets. Los Angeles could also be forced to transfer any property previously donated for public use, but officials were not immediately clear how much, if any, there might be.
Pellman's opinion offered guidance to the county Local Agency Formation Commission, which is drafting terms of a referendum on secession that could go before voters next November.
To Valley VOTE, the group pushing for secession, it was a major blow.
"It's clearly not the opinion we wanted," said Valley VOTE Chairman Richard Close. "We need to have our assets."
Secessionists fear it will be tougher to persuade Valley voters to support secession if Los Angeles were to keep nearly all city property. If the issue reaches the ballot, it would require the approval of both a majority of voters in the Valley and a majority of voters in the city as a whole to pass.
