PVE Community Newsletter

Serving Lunada Bay, Malaga Cove, Montemalaga and Valmonte

• Residents Await Justification of the Tax Increases

• Tax Survey Conclusions

• Council’s Priorities Differ from Residents’ Priorities

• Savings #2 - Return Staff to 5-day work-weeks and Return-to-Office

• More reactions from the Tax Town Hall

• City’s Tax FAQs - Considerations

• Update to February Burglary Stats

• Q&A

Residents Await Justification of the Tax Increases

April 15th Tax Town hall: Mayor Lozzi acknowledged VIDEO she heard loud and clear residents’ request to understand what justifies the tripling of taxes. Left unanswered at the town hall, Council assured Residents the answer would be included in the Q&A forthcoming on the City site.

May 9th: The City published Q&A LINK, but there was no break-out of costs providing any due diligence to justify tripling Measure E. This raises concerns as Residents continue to wait.

Council plans future town hall meetings to answer Residents’ questions

TAX SURVEY CONCLUSIONS

A majority support tax increases, but well below the 66% needed for passage -VIDEO (start time: 1:23:29)

• Residents’ Top 5 Priorities: Safety and Stability

  • 90%: Fire Protection: Managing brush

  • 90%: Fire Protection: Services (Fire Fighters, hydrants, etc.)

  • 90%: Police Protection: Thefts and Home Burglaries

  • 87%: Maintaining City’s Fiscal Stability

  • 86%: 911 Response times

• 60% rate the City’s services favorably

• 77% want to retain our local police

Council’s Priorities Differ from Residents’ Priorities

Mar 28: Council Prioritized: Renovation of the public safety building LINK

Survey Reveals Council is out of sync with Residents:

Councilmembers are Public Servants elected to serve residents’ priorities

Will our Public Servants align our City’s priorities to their Constituents’ priorities?

Cost Savings Opportunity #2:

Return Staff to 5-day work-weeks and Return-to-Office (vs. working remote)

The Federal LINK and CA LINK governments have reinstated return-to-office, to increase productivity. The Pandemic is over.

Council discussed VIDEO the service gap created by the 4-day work weeks and the suggested solution was to increase staff to cover the gaps. How much in tax increases are needed to fund new staff positions to compensate for a 4-day work week?

One speaker at the town hall noted residents are not “Demanding Increased Services”, but rather are asking to have services RESTORED such as reopening City Hall on Fridays.

To Help our City, keep your suggestions coming

Email to: Info@PreservePVE.org

More Community Reactions to Tax Town Hall

Anonymous reactions provide Council the opportunity to hear new voices and address concerns …

• All taxes need expiration dates. The School District passed Measure M and now, after $100 million in taxes have been collected, we have nothing to show for it. Without an expiration date on the tax, there is no accountability.

• Before any of us agree to pay more, we need to examine all the sacred cows and ask ourselves what we are really getting for our taxes. We need to challenge the way our money is spent.

• We need better prioritization and decision-making that benefits the majority instead of a select few.

• For the past decade, there has been so much talk and planning about frivolities like a roundabout, a new city hall, an aquarium in Malaga Cove, etc., while the basics like fire abatement, proper and qualified staffing, and actual/aboveboard negotiations just to get what we pay for, has largely gone unaddressed. Let’s focus on our NEEDS 

• Staff shouldn't have their time (and thus our tax dollars) wasted by low value projects. In what world does the city only get about 4 bids for fire abatement but contacts over 200 companies begging them to do a non-essential tree inventory?

• I noticed more than half of the residents left before the end of the town hall. People I spoke to were put-off by Council’s seemingly unwillingness to explain why we need to pay more taxes.

• Councilman Quinn stated at the Town Hall that the proposed tax included “wants and needs”. I would only consider paying for “needs”!

City’s Tax FAQs Considerations LINK

• Q: Has the City approved a new tax measure?

  The city said “No” and listed months worth of work and analysis that has yet to happen. Was it a good use of taxpayer funds to spend thousands for a consultant to survey for the tripling of Measure E LINK prior to the due diligence?

• Q: Can't the City just make more cuts?

  Last year the city provided 7-10% cost-of-living increases to staff in addition to merit pay increases Admin-Union Police-Union. The city states we are losing staff to other cities offering more competitive pay. However, on 4/8/25 the Council ordered their first market analysis of pay to compare PVE compensation to other cities LINK, so, it is unclear why this conclusion was reached before the delivery of the comparative salary analysis.

• Q: The city claims contract services are more costly than employees, but the city has never conducted a comparison of fully loaded employee pension costs with training, to outsourcing.

• Q: Why consider a parcel tax again—why not other options?

  The city responded that taxes were the only option considered. Why not consider non-tax revenue and/or efficiencies to reduce tax demands?

• Q: What is the current deficit?

  The city states the current year deficit (2025) is $2 million LINK, correcting Council’s town hall presentation which stated the 2025 deficit was $3 million VIDEO

• Q: What happens when Measure E expires in 2027?

  What is the city waiting for? Why not extend Measure E to cover the full costs of the police, including full pension costs ?

• Q: Will future revenue be used for a new Civic Center?

  The City states: “There are no current proposals to fund or construct a new City Hall, Police Station, or Civic Center. “ This is not true. The City is actively pursuing CM Lazzaro’s proposal VIDEO and VIDEO to develop new Police and Fire Stations on the empty lot next to City Hall which is part of McGowan’s AECOM Study scope. The City’s 4/1 LETTER to LA County Fire solicits support for their proposal, which will require more debt and taxes by PVE Residents.

• Q: Why is $16.4 million in new revenue being discussed?

  The City has not provided residents a breakdown of why Measure E needs to be tripled. The city states it “ includes approximately $4 million for maintaining critical infrastructure” leaving residents to wonder why we need to pay $4 million a year FOREVER, for the one-time unfunded infrastructure costs of $15 million LINK

Based on the City’s survey, the ballot is targeted for March or Nov of 2026.

Source: 5/13 Council VIDEO (start time 1:08:25)

Yes

Anonymity has played a crucial role in advancing liberty in the development of our great Country. Examples of anonymous publications:

• Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania; which united the colonies against the Townshend Acts

• Common Sense

• The Federalist Papers

• Anti-Federalist arguments which were the basis of the Bill of Rights

Repeatedly, the Supreme Court has affirmed a right to anonymous speech. The Court wrote in McIntyre v. Ohio Elections Commission LINK:

Anonymity is a shield from the tyranny of the majority… It thus exemplifies the purpose behind the Bill of Rights and the First Amendment in particular: to protect the individuals from retaliation.

PreservePVE discloses official government actions of government officials with links to source documents.