Secession Advocates Have Trouble With Arithmetic Guest Column by Jeff Daar I hope that you were not surprised to learn last week that key secession leaders were trying to make a secret backroom deal to undo the San Fernando Valley secession election in exchange for placing a borough proposal on the ballot. Secession leaders have required the taxpayers to spend more than $2 million to study and develop a proposal for how to break up the city of Los Angeles. After spending all of this taxpayer money and finally getting the Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) to approve placing a secession proposal on the November ballot, why would the secession leaders now want to scuttle their own proposal? The answer is simple. They now realize that they have created an absurd secession proposal that will not work and will be unpopular once voters learn more about it. Secession leaders are having a hard time explaining why, under their breakup proposal, the San Fernando Valley will be required to pay $1.3 billion to the remaining city of Los Angeles over the next 20 years. A vote for the secession proposal locks in this 20-year payment without a single penny or a single service ever coming back to the San Fernando Valley. Of course, the secessionists have to try to put a positive spin on this $1.3 billion giveaway. They argue that this is really a “savings” of $1.3 billion since after 20 years the Valley will no longer have to pay the city of Los Angeles this $1.3 billion. Since when is locking in a payment schedule for 20 years a “savings”? Secession leaders also have promised that they will provide smaller government by forming the sixth largest city in the United States (approximately 1.4 million residents). State law fixes the salary for council members in a new Valley city at only $1,000 a month each. (Council members in the proposed new Hollywood city would get $800 a month each.) The secession proposal gives the Valley 14 part-time council members and one part-time mayor. Secession leaders should now be embarrassed that their proposed city will be run by 15 persons who will not be paid enough each month to pay even an average rent for an apartment in the Valley. Good luck to any of us finding our council members. When we need them, they will be at their real jobs making a living. By the way, we may not care about our newly elected leaders since we will elect them without having any runoff election. Fringe candidates can easily be elected with 15 percent or less of the vote if they are the top vote getter. Of course, the city and county of Los Angeles always have a runoff election. Secession leaders also fear that the last straw for voters will be when they learn that a Valley city means higher taxes and fees and reduced services for the Valley. To make ends meet, water and power will increase by $30 to $76 a year for the average Valley household. The Valley will also likely have to pay, for the first time, a garbage collection fee that can be $120 for the average Valley household. State law will also prohibit the Valley from collecting $31 million each year from the real estate transfer document fee, which is now collected from Valley property sales by the city of Los Angeles. Secession leaders will probably claim this is a tax cut. What this really means is that the Valley will be $31 million short each year in revenue if it does not collect this fee. The result will be that the Valley city will have to reduce services in the amount of $31 million each year or raise taxes or other fees in this amount. For these and many other reasons, many who once supported secession are now opposed to breaking up the city of Los Angeles. Even secession leaders do not like the secession proposal being placed on the ballot. It is time to stop dividing and time to start working together to make the entire city of Los Angeles, including the San Fernando Valley, a better place. Together we can accomplish great things. Jeff Daar is a founder and co-chair of One Los Angeles. He is an attorney with the Los Angeles law firm of Daar & Newman.
