Los Angeles County voters may soon be asked to vote on a new “parcel” tax to be levied on private property owners’ “impenetrable areas” — everything from rooftops to driveways — to help pay for the capture of recyclable stormwater runoff.
In its next meeting Tuesday morning, July 17, the county Board of Supervisors will hold a public hearing on adopting the “Safe, Clean Water Program” measure proposed by the county Public Works Department, and consider placing an ordinance and parcel tax measure on the November 6 general election ballot.
According to county documents, the measure would “impose a special tax upon parcels located within the Los Angeles County Flood Control District, to fund projects and programs to increase stormwater capture and reduce stormwater and urban runoff pollution.”
The tax would be 2.5 cents per square foot of “impermeable” surface.
“Impermeable area” means a parcel area covered by materials or constructed surfaces such as buildings, roofs, paved roadways, sidewalks, driveways, parking lots, brick, asphalt, concrete, pavers, covers, slabs, sheds, pools and other constructed surfaces or hardscape features.
Since impermeable areas do not absorb rainwater, it becomes runoff that makes its way into storm drains and, unless captured and recycled, flows down local waterways en route to the Pacific Ocean.
Impermeable areas do not include permeable surfaces that do absorb water and don’t create runoff, such as vegetated areas, grasses, bushes, shrubs, lawns, bare soil, tree canopy, natural water bodies, wetland areas, gravel, gardens and planters on bare soil, rocky shores and other natural areas.
The measure would require a two-thirds majority vote in November to pass.
Because Prop. 13 limits property tax increases, the proposed fee is being called a “parcel” tax. But in effect, it is an additional tax on property.
After hearing any public comments about the proposed measure Tuesday, the Supervisors will vote whether to follow the DPW’s recommendations to determine that the proposed actions are not a project under the California Environmental Quality Act, and to place the measure on the November ballot.
The measure must receive three of the five Supervisors’ votes on Tuesday to move forward.
If the parcel tax is added to the November ballot and approved by two-thirds of the voters, the total projected gross revenues would be approximately $300 million per year for the Los Angeles Region, according to countyu documents.
This amount would be subject to reductions as provided for in the credit program described in the Program Elements document, and exemptions for parcels owned by qualifying low-income seniors.
Ten percent (approximately $30 million gross) would be distributed to the District for implementation and administration of projects, programs, and activities to increase stormwater capture and reduce stormwater and urban runoff pollution (Eligible Activities), and for costs incurred in connection with the levy and collection of the tax and distribution of the funds.
Forty percent (approximately $120 million gross) would be allocated to municipalities within the District, including the unincorporated area of the county, in proportion to the tax collected in each jurisdiction, to carry out Eligible Activities.
Fifty percent (approximately $150 million gross) would be allocated to the nine watershed areas to fund regional watershed-based Eligible Activities proportional to the funds generated in each watershed area.
Each watershed area will have a Watershed Area Steering Committee who will allocate funding to regional projects within their area.
Read the agenda item [here].
See the full agenda [here]).
Find out more at SafeCleanWaterLA.org.
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41 Comments
Is that all any city/ county/ state government elected personnel does anymore is think of ways to tax people? Utterly ridiculous
Seriously??
Some more bs to capture my hard earned dollar. Preposterous!
Insane!!!
Ridiculous! How many people converted grass areas to Hardscape to help save water during the drought? And now they want to penalize for it?
So because our government has drug their collective feet on designing and implementing a method to capture rainwater runoff, the public will be hit with an additional tax.
SMFH
So because the government had drug their collective feet on designing and implementing a rainwater runoff, the public will pay an additional tax. Ridiculous.
You watch, it will pass. I think They don’t actually tell us the truth of what passes or not. Everything they want, they just tell us “it passed”. It’s the only thing possible since so many obviously stupid, costly and detrimental bills/laws get passed. Why don’t we have voter proof of identity for the right to vote?! We have every other identification requirement. We should be demanding this to stop illegals and the Russians from voting to destroy our country. Come on people!!
Just keep on finding more ways to tax us! ?
Time to move
Hopefully voters will actually read the information before voting. This is so bad in so many ways.
This is so stupid. What do you think my HOA will say when I remove the concrete from my driveway and make it dirt?
Not only did many people convert their lawns into Hardscape areas, but when we conserved water during the drought…what happened??? The water companies RAISED THE RATES because people used less water!!! The madness never ends.
Excuse me! We already pay TAXES on our property!!! CA puts the majority of property taxes on home owners!!! We already pay higher taxes than most states & get less for our money. You wonder why we leave our HOMES & move to other states!!!!
Wow!! They mismanage the money they already get from us and then devise ways to get more of our money. TERRIBLE!
We have a rainwater collection system already. The wider and flatter we keep the Santa Clara River the more rainwater will percolate down to the aquifers. The infrastructure is already in place. Just keep the river wide and slow.
Jerry, and his drones…have been clearly insane for many a year…no surprises …
They are the reason, the example, of why smoking pot is both legal(now)..and over many many years of abuse …to the brain….yer…results of…
What about all the water is runing to be wasted into the ocean because the LA river, San Gabriel river and many other flood contro channel are all with concrete.
Why not build reservoirs to save all that water first.
If they are going requires us to have permeable surfaces in our house, they should be the first one to do it, not the first one to waste the water.
Definitely a NO vote from me.
That said, county planners should focus on new construction by requiring install of strong rain gutters to capture the storm water and move it to storage tanks. A little creativity works!
Not that I would vote for this farcical proposal, though parking lots are specifically mentioned I am noting the wording in this article seems to indicate that this applies to “private property,” so are commercial properties and those owned by REITs (real estate investment trusts) exempted and the homeowner is going to take it in the shorts again.
NOT ONE MORE PENNY FOR TAXES! Vote out these morons who are constantly trying to squeeze every drop of blood out of us! They have RUINED life in L.A. County, they have NO vision (or this would have been fixed decades ago), they misuse what they have been entrusted to, and all they see is more $$$$.
VOTE THEM OUT!
And vote NO and ANY new taxes of ANY kind!
This, in fairness, should also include streets, sidewalks, freeways and concrete flood control channels, all of which are publicly owned according to this illogical plan.
A better idea would be a massive cut into the profits from the fossil fuel industry that caused climate disruption in the first place.
But no, that’s not how things work anymore. Now it’s privatize the profits, socialize the losses.
This is soooooo wrong!!!
This makes me fighting mad. As a retired County employee, I can tell you there is little incentive to be efficient as compared to the private sector. The attitude that, “I’m not here to save the County money” is prevalent.
VOTE! Only 29% of SCV eligible voters participated in the June election. VOTE!
With the number of dead voters and illigals voting, this will be passed. This is the scum in Sacramento at work.
This has to rank up there with the dumbest thing I’ve ever seen. Can’t imagine the sups would think it had a chance of passing
Tell me again why I stay here.
More liberal tax grabs…so what are we to do…live in mud huts with thatched roofs and dirt driveways….sidewalks and most roads are the governments so do they get taxed?
How many apartment dwellers who have no skin in the game will be voting to tax property owners – again? Time to start a recall. What’s next on their tax-and-spend agenda – taxing mailboxes, sprinklers, hoses, retaining walls, fences, lawn furniture and umbrellas, steps-and-front-porches, bird feeders, etc? Probably just gave these fools more ideas to tax.
This is rubbish. Just stop it.
Step 1: limit our water consumption to unreasonable levels.
Step 2: punish those who replace grass backyards with new taxes.
Typical.
Be sure to read the ballot with eagle eyes in November, they have a way of phrasing them in very confusing terms…..
In history, in England they would tax the amount of windows you had, so people boarded up their windows. Tear up your driveway and replace with rock? Simply ridiculous.
In history, in England they would tax the amount of windows you had, so people boarded up their windows. Tear up your driveway and replace with rock? Simply ridiculous. County supervisors have way, way, way too much power that is hidden to most people.
The most asinine proposal I have ever heard regarding water, it’s use and or conservation.
Let’s get it right:
1. Drought = needed conservation
2. Homeowners REDUCE USAGE but pay more.
3. We reduce usage by ELIMINATING lawns and going to hardscape w/drought resistant plants.
4. Pools use less water than lawns.
5. The “Supes” are again shirking their responsibility and putting their slimy hands in our pockets RATHER THAN, advocate better water management projects that would ameliorate these issues LONG TERM.
6. Instead of AGAIN stealing the money of property owners by circumventing Prop13, they should be lobbying the sorry SAC at the state level to build modern desalination plants along the coast.
Pipelines throughout the state AS WELL AS to Nevada, Arizona and sell the water at a profit.
Sell this also to farming instead of allowing them to destroy the priceless aquifer system.
Build new reservoirs.
Due precisely to THE LAVK OF IT, our answer does not include capturing rain water…beyond stupid.
They are wasting $billions$ on Moonbeams crazy train…any $$ they grab from us is never used as they said it would…how many times do we have to vote for them to use the gas tax for road repair….i think i have voted 3 times on that one ….yet they still dont. This tax is another power grab for these socialists to control the population
This is insane- you are taxing people out of their homes! Stop the bullet train to nowhere. Stop letting water run to the ocean. What happened to all the other props? Where did all that money go? Stop paying for the illegals. Stop the stupid sanctuary state mess.
Why don’t they just come to my house every month and hang me upside and shake all my change out of my pockets!?! Because I have a roof and a driveway, they demand an additional tax ??? Are they all high???
Why don’t you stop spending money on stupid things? You all are stupid idiots
This is an excellent idea. Most homeowners do not realize the impact they have on the environment, this is a good lesson. I would state depending on square footage it should be equal to property taxes.
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