Los Angeles County Taxes

Members of the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission voted unanimously Wednesday to urge a review of the agency's controversial offshore lease arrangement for 54 commuter rail cars. The commission recommended that any conclusions from the review be made public before another proposed lease transaction is authorized.

State senators moved Thursday to correct a quandary on the November ballot that could have Los Angeles County voters approving local sales tax increases that it may be illegal to collect. The problem is this: State law requires that the total sales tax collected, excluding a temporary earthquake tax, cannot exceed 7%. A 6 1/2% tax is now being collected in the county.

Los Angeles County property taxpayers who erroneously received tax delinquency notices this week are being asked to write, call or visit the county treasurer-tax collector's office to clear up the problem. Hundreds of taxpayers got the notices because of computer processing errors. The errors appear to have occurred on fewer than 1% of the 290,000 delinquent notices mailed out Monday, said Assistant Treasurer-Tax Collector David Collins.

The Southern California Rapid Transit District Board of Directors voted Thursday to create five assessment districts along the proposed extension of the Metro Rail subway from MacArthur Park to North Hollywood to help pay for the $2.5-billion project.

The County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved a package of new taxes, money transfers and countywide cost-saving measures that will protect the stricken mental health system from $41.9 million in program cuts. To the cheers of hundreds of mental health advocates, the board approved--in a series of split votes--new taxes for utility users and raised the hotel and motel room tax from 10% to 12%. The two taxes are expected to raise $14.6 million in the remainder of this fiscal year.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday postponed drastic cuts to the county mental health department to give itself one more week to figure out how to squeeze money from other county departments and consider the possibility of new taxes. By the end of the meeting it appeared that cuts eventually would have to be made, though not as deep as the $41.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, faced with the prospect of drastically cutting mental health services, Tuesday took the first step in trying to offset the cuts with $8 million in new taxes on utilities and motel and hotel rooms. In addition, the supervisors decided to ask the county's municipalities for another $30 million to bolster county-run health and mental health programs, but less than two hours after the meeting, Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley sharply rejected the request.

Calling it a "Solomon-like" solution, lawmakers passed and sent to the governor Friday a measure that would allow Los Angeles County voters to approve local sales tax increases for transit and jails without violating state law. The legislation corrects a conflict on the November ballot where Los Angeles County voters will be asked to endorse two local sales tax increases, each calling for a half-cent tax on each dollar of sales.

Amid protests by Malibu residents, Los Angeles County supervisors Thursday postponed until May 22 a vote on whether to approve tax assessments for a proposed sewer system in the seaside community. Sewer opponents complained that they are being asked to pay up to 37% more in taxes than originally stated and that commercial users and Pepperdine University would not be charged enough under the plan.

Los Angeles County farmers won a partial exemption Tuesday from a utility tax meant to help salvage the county's mental health system. The exemption, approved 3-2 by Los Angeles County supervisors, will protect farmers from a potentially disastrous burden, supporters said. But opponents said the decision is a self-serving and short-sighted action that threatens to unravel the mental health bailout plan. In January, supervisors approved three taxes to raise $18.