Three Los Angeles County Supervisors Expected To Support Ballot Measure To Fund Trauma Centers
Three of five Los Angeles County supervisors have said they will vote next Tuesday to place a measure on the Nov. 5 ballot that would raise property taxes to fund the county's trauma care centers and emergency rooms, the Los Angeles Daily News reports. The measure, proposed by board Chair Zev Yaroslavsky, would raise property taxes by three cents per square foot, or an average of $42 per year. The measure also would establish a three-cent per square foot tax on structural improvements; a half-cent per square foot tax on parking improvements; and a tenth of a cent per square foot tax on agricultural, vacant or similar land. Supervisors Gloria Molina and Yvonne Brathwaite Burke said that they will vote to add the measure to the ballot. Supervisor Don Knabe said that he supports the measure but would have to "take a closer look" at the details before he made a decision, and Supervisor Michael Antonovich said that he will vote against the measure. "While the goal of a source of funding for trauma care is a worthy one, the means of burdening the homeowners with higher taxes is wrong," Antonovich said. County officials expect that the measure would raise about $175 million in additional revenue each year. Of that amount, the county would spend $92 million on emergency rooms, $63 million on 13 public and private trauma care centers and $20 million to fight bioterrorism, the Daily News reports. Advocates for taxpayers said the that board will "have a hard time getting voters to approve" the measure (Anderson, Los Angeles Daily News, 7/26).
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