I recently attended one of the Los Alamitos Fiscal Sustainability meetings. There was a lot of information presented in a pretty short period of time. It has taken me a few weeks to let it sink in and to offer my humble take on the matter.
While impactful since its inception over 40 years ago, I would offer that putting the blame on the effects of Prop 13 are not valid. It is just part of the fabric of the California tax milieu. And please note that it has been beneficial in helping an aging population being able to stay in their homes. And as was pointed out, new, younger home owners will positively impact the local property tax base.
Other causes were also noted, including public employees benefits, but they did not just kind of happen or just showed up recently. They have been in place for many years and thus I would offer that the reactions of our city administrations, over the last 20 years, are really at the heart of the current situation.
I guess the bottom line is that we are not here due to following California mandates. It’s pretty simple, we are here because there is more money going out than coming in. And it has not been dealt with effectively. Although I remember watching many annual City financial forecasts that apparently, did not reflect the true picture of the City’s long-term ability to pay its bills.
And because of this I, as a tax payer and homeowner, may be further burdened by the fixes proposed:  a parcel tax, a utility users’ tax, and a further cutting of city services. And guess what, I’m willing to bet that these actions have already caused the value of my home to go down. Which leads me to the question of why do I have to take such a big hit for poor management?
All the causes were presented as external, and completely out of the City’s control. Yet, all the fixes are on me and negatively impact the quality of my life. I am not comfortable with that logic. I get it, it’s a bad situation, and the folks leading the City are doing their best to plug the holes. But City staff, elected and paid, were put into place to deal effectively with these matters. I respectfully put the burden back on them to go back to the drawing boards and give us more options.
Elliot Singer
Los Alamitos