PVE Community Newsletter

Serving Lunada Bay, Malaga Cove, Montemalaga and Valmonte

• A Successful Path Forward Together

• Tax Town Hall Creates Confusion

• Community Reactions to Tax Town Hall

• Cost Savings Opportunity

  • Have a suggestion? Send to Info@PreservePVE.org

• Prior PVE Mayor James Nyman’s Approach to Taxes

• Q&A

• Chief Hellinga Presents Monthly Crime Reporting

  "If you do not take an interest in the affairs of your government, then you are doomed to live under the rule of fools." – Plato

A SUCCESSFUL PATH FORWARD

Build a Relationship with Residents Based on Trust

STEP 1: Provide Full Disclosure

Residents need a line-item break down that justifies the proposed tripling of taxes. Full disclosure includes: all debt and all development plans. Plans to stage stacked taxes by tripling Measure E now, with intent to layer new taxes for bonds for development costs, should not be hidden from the public.

STEP 2: Answer Questions Fully with Candor

During the town hall, residents had visibly negative reactions to Councils’ responses when questions were avoided and deflected.

STEP 3: Govern to the Will of the People

Councilmembers are “public servants” elected to serve voters’ priorities, not personal agendas. Residents were disenfranchised when Council completed their priorities in March, before engaging residents. Solutions provided in next section.

Govern to the Will of the People

a) Residents support extending Measure E

Last year’s tax survey results VIDEO reflect strong resident support to extend Measure E to support the police, including an annual increase based on a standard index for inflation.

b) Residents need to know if Tax Increases are Necessary

Mayor Lozzi said she heard loud and clear residents’ requests for transparency to understand what services justify a tripling of taxes. Thank you, Mayor Lozzi. WHEN will residents receive a detailed list to justify increased property taxes?

c) Align City Priorities to Residents’ Priorities

Fiscal Deficits are Fueled by Funding non-Essential Services: Funding was directed to non-essential projects such as the roundabouts, public housing, unnecessary new government buildings, and the tree inventory. Yet essential services were were left unaddressed such as adequate fire abatement, urgent safety issues at City Hall and lack of fire hydrant testing.

Let’s start with the residents’ priorities to discern if tax increases are needed: Council is proposing a tripling of taxes to fund their priorities they established in March. Taxes should be based on Residents’ priorities.

GIVE RESIDENTS A SEAT AT THE TABLE

TAX TOWN HALL CREATES CONFUSION VIDEO

CM (councilmember) McGowan states the city has not determined the purpose of the tax:  VIDEO Are tax increases needed?

"It is not necessarily, whether it's going to be for police. It's just yet to be determined. It could be for public safety, it could be for whatever is defined, but we have not come to that conclusion"

Mayor Lozzi states: taxes increases fund parkland maintenance, including fire abatement VIDEO

3/25/25: McGowan states the County will begin providing funds for fire abatement VIDEO

Mayor Lozzi states: “ALL” roads, sewers and drains need to be replaced/refurbished VIDEO.

“our roads, our sewers, our storm and wastewater drains, they are all old and they are near the end of their useful life, so they all will either require major renovation or complete replacement.”

That differs from City’s Capital Plan:

PVE’s current 2025 Capital plan LINK lays out the city’s infrastructure needs. The report states the city needs $15 million more for one-time costs that cover all infrastructure including streets, sewers and drains and City Hall that are not covered by County funding (page 7 pictured below).

Council’s advocacy for a permanent tax increase of $11.4 million every year is inconsistent with the city’s need to fill a one-time funding gap of $15 million.

Sewers: $170,000 one-time funding needed

PVE’s consultant indicates the County pays for 90% of the maintenance VIDEO. The city’s Capital Improvement plans shows the city portion is a one-time cost of $170,000 to fix the sewers.

Drains: $1 million one-time funding needed

Reference: As shown above in the City’s Capital plan LINK

Water Intrusion: $150-180,000 one-time funding needed

PVE’s Consultant states there are many sources to seek funding VIDEO. CM Kemps stated Lieu’s office said they are “very, very interested” in funding the water intrusion issue VIDEO. Thank you, CM Kemps.

Drains: $1 million one-time funding needed

Reference: See City’s Capital plan above.

Street Maintenance: $6.1 million might be needed over the next 4 years

PVE’s Consultant states street maintenance is mostly funded by [County] measures VIDEO and shown on page 5 LINK. PVE maintains a high 70% “RMR” (street quality measurement), which costs more. CM Kemps, astutely, asks if PVE can reduce our RMR so County covers the whole cots. The Consultant said he will find out.

City Hall: $7.1 million one-time funding needed to fix

Source: 2025 Capital plan LINK and pictured is based on the Walker Construction report the city hired to evaluate City Hall LINK.

— RECOMMENDED SOLUTION —

• Disclose all intended taxes (operational and capital costs)

• Implement Cost efficiencies and non-tax revenue ideas, with more solutions forthcoming to help our city

• Refrain from conflating the need for annual tax increases to cover one-time costs

• If there is still a funding gap, then be specific, engage residents for trade off decisions like changing street RMR metric to save money and use a temporary general tax that expires after covering these one-time costs.

Community Reactions to Tax Town Hall

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

1. Why did Council reduce our services to 4 days a week, rather than 5 days and what did we get in return?

2. The tax needs to have expiration date (standard practice)

3. When will we hear the results of the survey?

4. Why didn’t the city’s survey ask us about our residents’ priorities, rather than evaluating how they can word a tax to get us to vote “yes”.

5. Until we pass an audit and prove we can manage our money, don’t ask the residents for a parcel tax

6. Why wasn’t the input and expertise of the Financial Advisory Committee (FAC) utilized for this parcel tax proposal ?

7. Before you consider a parcel tax, please show us that you have seriously considered any and all options, Show us the work

8. It was suggested on NextDoor that council look into the city concession agreements to see if the city has fully monetized our public assets to maximize revenue before asking residents for more taxes. Seems like a good idea.

9. Why isn’t Council solving the pension debt problem … or even acknowledging it? Is Council going to kick the can down the road again, causing more taxes?

10. I want to help the city extend Measure E, but I need to see the details.

11. I read the survey question telling us we will only have 1 police officer on patrol at a time, unless we pass a tax increase of $11 million a year. WOW! How much do police officers get paid??

Cost Savings Opportunity #1

Stop Subsidizing Private Development with Taxes

The Planning Department (aka Community Development) expenses have doubled in 5 years. Why?

Most of the Planning and some of the Public Works departments’ costs should be charged, through fees, to the development projects requesting these services.

CM Lazzaro argues VIDEO that PVE taxpayers should subsidize other people’s new homes and renovations. Why? If PVE’s fees are high as compared to other cities, then PVE needs to be as efficient as other cities.

Former PVE Mayor James Nyman’s Approach to Taxes

(2017) “The residents are adults: if the City NEEDS money then document the need and ASK us for more! No one is against the best and highest levels of service.

BUT WE SHOULD DECIDE what additional services we want and how much extra WE should pay not self-servicing bureaucrats!”

A Public Servant giving Residents a Voice

Q4: Since LA County leases the PVE fire station for their employees and equipment, why should residents pay to upgrade their facilities?

This appears to be an issue between LA County and their employees’ union, which can be negotiated between them.

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