BACA URGES 'RESCUE PLAN' SHERIFF LOBBIES FOR AMENDMENT TO CHANGE TAX-APPROVAL MAJORITY VOTE.Byline: Troy Anderson Staff Writer Sheriff Lee Baca Leroy David Baca (b. May 27 1942, East Los Angeles, California) is the Sheriff of Los Angeles County, California. After graduating from Benjamin Franklin High School (Los Angeles) in 1960, Baca worked his way through East Los Angeles College before starting with the L.A. , who failed last November to get Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. County to back a half-percent sales tax sales tax, levy on the sale of goods or services, generally calculated as a percentage of the selling price, and sometimes called a purchase tax. It is usually collected in the form of an extra charge by the retailer, who remits the tax to the government. increase for law enforcement, urged state lawmakers Thursday to back a constitutional amendment to lower the threshold for passage from two-thirds to 55 percent. Assembly Constitutional Amendment 16, sponsored by Assemblyman Mike Gordon For other persons named Mike Gordon, see Mike Gordon (disambiguation). Mike Gordon (born June 3, 1965 in Sudbury, Massachusetts) is a bass player and vocalist most noted for his work with the rock band Phish. , D-El Segundo, has already passed out of two committees and is expected to go before a full vote of the Assembly sometime next week. So far, the votes have been along party lines and Baca is planning to travel to Sacramento next week in hopes of convincing six Assembly Republicans to vote for the amendment. The Assembly currently has 48 Democrats and 32 Republicans. The amendment needs a two-thirds vote to pass as well as the support of a majority of voters. ``It's a local government rescue plan,'' Baca said. ``When the county of Los Angeles as a whole can vote 60 percent for more public safety and that's not good enough, there is something very wrong with that political process. ``When the city of Los Angeles
Last November, slightly less than 60 percent of voters supported Measure A, a one-half percent sales tax increase for more police and sheriff's deputies. Both Baca and Los Angeles Police Department "LAPD" and "L.A.P.D." redirect here. For other uses, see LAPD (disambiguation).  This article or section is written like an . Chief William Bratton had campaigned heavily in support of the measure. The measure was designed to raise $560 million annually to help law enforcement agencies A law enforcement agency (LEA) is a term used to describe any agency which enforces the law. This may be a local or state police, federal agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) or the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). in the county hire 5,000 more police officers and sheriff's deputies in an attempt to cut the crime rate in half. Baca and Bratton had argued that New York City New York City: see New York, city. New York City City (pop., 2000: 8,008,278), southeastern New York, at the mouth of the Hudson River. The largest city in the U.S. , Chicago and Philadelphia have twice as many officers per capita [Latin, By the heads or polls.] A term used in the Descent and Distribution of the estate of one who dies without a will. It means to share and share alike according to the number of individuals. as the county has. Baca's new push for the sales tax increase follows actions by the Board of Supervisors in April to restore $79 million to the sheriff's budget to help him hire more than 900 employees to reopen several jails and gradually reduce the number of inmates granted early releases. After years of slashing public services Public services is a term usually used to mean services provided by government to its citizens, either directly (through the public sector) or by financing private provision of services. , the county's coffers - along with those of many other cities and counties in the state - are overflowing with additional property tax revenues thanks to the booming housing market. By this July, the county's property tax revenues are expected to have grown 9 percent over the prior year to $2.7 billion. From 2001 to 2004, the assessed value of properties in the county grew from $609 billion to $781 billion, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. the Assessor's Office. From 2001-02 to 2004-05, property tax revenues in the county grew from $7.2 billion to $9.4 billion, according to the Treasurer and Tax Collector's Office. County government keeps about 24 percent of those revenues and the rest is distributed to state government, cities and special districts. Assemblywoman Sharon Runner Sharon Runner (born May 17 1954, Los Angeles) is a Californian politician. She has been a member of the California State Assembly since 2002. Runner, a Republican from Antelope Valley represents the 36th district. , R-Lancaster, said she voted against the amendment as a member of the Assembly Appropriations Committee because she believes the Board of Supervisors should make law enforcement a higher funding priority. ``I can really understand Sheriff Baca's frustration with the lack of funding, but I just don't support reducing the will of the voters down to less than two-thirds,'' Runner said. ``I think it's something we really need to keep in place to protect our hard-working families out there.'' But Baca said his budget has been slashed by $166 million in the past three years and the recently restored funds are only a fraction of what he needs to properly protect the public. He said the 22,000 police officers and deputies in the county are not enough to prevent crime. ``People wonder why we have so many gang murders every year,'' Baca said. ``It's quite simple. There aren't enough preventive resources. People hardly see police cars anymore. If the law-abiding public doesn't see them, you can be sure the criminals don't see them. ``When you look at the real number of cops on the streets on a 24-hour clock, seven days a week, it's right in the realm of 5,000 cops or less (in the county),'' Baca said. ``We have the lowest ratio of police officers and deputies per capita than anywhere in major cities and major counties in the United States.'' Troy Anderson, (213) 974-8985 troy.anderson(at)dailynews.com |
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