LOS ANGELES (KTLA) — Potholes seem to be everywhere in Los Angeles, but a new plan to fix them could put a hole in the pockets of homeowners.
Lawmakers are calling for a $3 billion bond measure paid in property taxes over 29 years. They want to get it on the ballot this May.
L.A. City Councilman Mitch Englander says Angelenos spend on average $750 per year on car repairs caused by bad city streets. He wants to fix the whole system.
Fixing the roads sounds like a great idea to most drivers, but what about raising taxes to do it?
Englander admits that a tax isn’t really fair, but says that city leaders of the past have put Los Angeles in this mess.
“I’m so aggravated on how we got here. There’s been so many mistakes made,” Englander said.
“There’s no question the revenue streams that come in that is dedicated specifically for streets has been depleted,” he added.
According to Englander, $100 million per year from the city’s general fund is not enough to fix the problem. But, he says, the bond measure would do the trick.
For every $100,000 in property value, taxpayers would pay an average of $35 more per year. Englander wants voters to decide if it’s worth it.
216 Comments to “L.A. City Council Considers Pothole Tax”
January 10, 2013 at 2:06 PM
Well they only want to have the tax in effect for 29 years…..by then they will want to triple the tax to fix the craters that used to be pot holes because they blew the money elsewhere….bonuses and salary increases for Politicians would be my guess….
January 10, 2013 at 2:13 PM
First, let's fix that pothole of a mayor.
January 10, 2013 at 2:33 PM
WOW! Three BILLION DOLLARS paid back over TWENTY NINE YEARS to fix potholes!!! Let's see..
potholes remain fixed for what, three to six months, tops?
So in six months they'll need ANOTHER three BILLION DOLLARS paid back over ANOTHER TWENTY NINE YEARS.
WOW!!!! They grow politicians more stupid in California than ANYWHERE ELSE!!
January 11, 2013 at 2:31 PM
WRONG!!!
It is the voters that are so unfreakingbelievably STUPID, – over and over and over again. The politicians promise Mann-ah from heaven, then re-neg, and every time the stupid gullible people are voting for the slick poser again!
January 10, 2013 at 2:34 PM
LA property owners deserve what they have voted for for fity years! They let LA become a third world "country" by voting at the local, state, and federal levels. Voting has consequences. No tax money can be "earmarked" in the corrupt government of LA. It all goes to illegals and unions. The whole country knows this. Outsourcing doesn't help with all the pro-union constraints and crony contracts. Take my advice, LA is worse than Chicago or Mexico, more like the Middle East.
As LAUSD, whose BOD said it never knew, has a $10billion, per state audit, NEVER funded, not underfunded, liabliity for retired teacher medical benefits that are not recognized and since cannot be funded by state funds wiill come out of LA students' education for twenty years or longer.
This just drives out all productive, job-creating businesses and good citizens. If you think you have equity in your home in LA, you are sadly, sadly mistaken.
But no group is as deserving as all of this as So Cal progressives
January 10, 2013 at 2:41 PM
If we stopped providing secondary impulses (i.e. free education, subsidized housing, welfare payments, free contraception, abortion services, food stamps, EBT cards, unemployment benefits, lofty pensions, Obamacare, Obamaphones, etc.) to illegals, the indigent, the lazy and those who do not work, we would have plenty of money left over for primary impulses (police and fire protection, infrastructure and necessary government functions such as courts and prisons).
Nobody wants to work anymore, but everybody has their hand out. We have reached the tipping point where the dwindling makers can no longer support the burgeoning takers.
It really is as simple as this, people.
January 10, 2013 at 3:05 PM
You fools living in LA are f'n idiots. Stay where you are. Don't move.
January 10, 2013 at 3:06 PM
500,000 Mexican citizens with work permits drive across the San Ysidro Border crossing everyday for work. They fill up with PEMEX in Mexico and avoid paying any taxes for all the major road damage and pollution they cause while congesting our freeways even more.
Charge a border crossing fee of $20 per crossing and that will start to make up for it a little. It's also a great way to get back some of the social services money these same people have been gaming our system for.
January 10, 2013 at 3:11 PM
LA = North Tijuana
January 10, 2013 at 3:31 PM
Dirt cheap Mexican labor readily available, an overabundance of fat city engineers and immediate access to needed raw materials and they come up with this boondoggle…for the next TWENTY NINE years? This country is GONE. Time to fence off California at the Oregon border.
January 10, 2013 at 3:52 PM
So where exactly did the tax money go that was originally allocated for road repair? Maybe the councilman would allow LA taxpayers to vote on every line item of the budget and decide how the money is spent, since they already spend the money that was supposed to fix the pot holes.
January 10, 2013 at 4:04 PM
Colorado + Cali Progs = mountain west lib sanctuary
January 10, 2013 at 4:05 PM
The problem is they haven't learned their lesson! They leave California for Texas and when they get here, they try to push their former liberal agenda. Kinda like bringing in Muslims to America, they do not assimilate, they set up their own little 'Iraq'.
January 10, 2013 at 4:15 PM
3 billion paid back over almost 30 years? the question is how long does it take to spend the money? If you're spending the money in 1 year, you'll be paying for repairs that have long since broken down. You shouldn't spend borrowed money to fix something that will be broken again before you pay back the money you borrowed.
January 10, 2013 at 4:33 PM
Maybe Clooney and the Hollywood elite could have some fundraisers, if they can raise millions to re-elect a pothead why not some cash for a pothole.
January 10, 2013 at 4:46 PM
Just ask Obama for the money….He can get it from His "private stash?"
January 10, 2013 at 5:25 PM
Why not a sales tax? How many drivers don't own property?
January 10, 2013 at 5:37 PM
It would be cheaper to just stuff the potholes full of cash.
January 10, 2013 at 6:00 PM
Wow, they never stop do they? They HAVE money for this, it's called the GAS tax! It's called the ROAD TAX! It's called INCOME TAX!! They just use it for other purposes, then come back later, and need the "_____ tax" (fill in the blank with what ever you want)
It's just another money grab for them. It's like saying they need (federal) money to fix state bridges, or hire teachers! First of all, those are STATE issues. secondly, they GET money for it! They just spend it on other stuff, or just simply "top off" the unions pensions!
January 10, 2013 at 6:09 PM
I don't think $35 / $100K can fix all the potholes. I think $1,000 / $ 100K is much more appropriate. You voted for Moonbeam so why be timid with the taxing, you knew it was coming, he told you so!!! The faster and higher they tax the carp out of the 15% of fools who are still paying taxes, the faster and more complete the wagon will come apart. I will be interesting to see that whole dogdang mess 'crash and burn'…
January 10, 2013 at 7:02 PM
Forgive me if I have no sympathy for anyone complaining about this tax proposal who also re-elected (again and again) the corrupt, incompetent horses backsides who are just itching to ram this tax through.
January 10, 2013 at 7:02 PM
When a city proposes a separate tax to fix potholes, you can bet your bottom dollar that the city is spending taxpayers' money on things they shouldn't be spending it on. I've never seen it any differently in over 40 years in city/school finance. You need to fire your elected officials, and fast!
January 10, 2013 at 7:51 PM
Firing elected officials won’t work since the replacements are just as corrupted. The system is rotten to the core.
January 10, 2013 at 7:49 PM
The only vote government seems to notice is the voting with ones feet.
January 22, 2013 at 1:49 PM
The state collected an extra $3 billion in gasoline tax last year. Where did the money went? Give the cult a raise? Clearly do you think the pothole tax will fix the road? Or more money in some administrative fees and disappear?
January 31, 2013 at 10:25 AM
From LA Times, 8.13.12
http://articles.latimes.com/2012/aug/13/opinion/l…
Only $1 million of over $100 million earmarked for street repair comes from the general fund.
We will be spending close to $800 due to a damaged tire and cracked rim when I hit a pothole. This includes replacing both and an alignment. Ugghhh!!! In spite of this, I don't agree with adding a new tax.
February 13, 2013 at 4:31 AM
Obama… please be reasonable! You were elected again because people believe in you… Don't let them down….