The Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously on Friday to place a $30 million property tax increase for anti-gang programs on the Nov. 4 ballot, putting it in competition with an array of other likely tax hikes.
On a 12-0 vote, the council sent the measure to a ballot that could also offer a half-cent Los Angeles County transportation sales tax hike, which could collect $30 billion over three decades.
The Los Angeles Unified School District board is mulling a $3.2 billion school construction bond measure -- its fifth in a decade. And voters across the state will be asked to issue bonds to pay for hospitals, high-speed rail and alternative fuel vehicles.
Councilwoman Janice Hahn said she is not worried, arguing that the November presidential election will draw voters looking for change, not just at the federal level but by improving the number of after-school programs available to children.
"It's not going to be me making the case," Hahn said. "It's going to be the mothers who have lost their kids. It's going to be the fathers who have lost their kids."
The anti-gang measure will need a two-thirds vote to secure approval. That will prove to be a high threshold for Angelenos, many of whom have seen their municipal trash pickup fees triple during the last two years, said Kris Vosburgh, executive director of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayer Assn.
"There's some kind of disconnect between our elected officials, who are the highest paid in the nation, and the average citizen who is fighting to hold onto his home, job and pay the higher cost of food prices and gasoline," he said.
The measure is expected to cost $3 a month per parcel of property, Hahn aides said.
david.zahniser@latimes.com
