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La Verne council votes to oppose proposed LA County half-cent healthcare sales tax
Summary
The La Verne City Council approved a resolution opposing a proposed LA County half-cent general sales tax for healthcare restoration, citing concerns the county's plan lacks local accountability and that prior county measures did not reliably return funds to cities. The resolution will be forwarded to the Board of Supervisors.
La Verne City Council on March 2 voted to send a resolution to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors opposing a proposed half-cent general sales tax on the June ballot intended to restore county healthcare funding.
Manager Domer told the council the county has placed a half-cent sale tax on the ballot as a general tax to offset reductions in federal health-care funding and that the county's spending plan broadly allocates the revenue to health needs. Council members expressed concerns the revenue might not benefit La Verne directly and noted past county measures that, in their view, did not yield clear, local returns.
"The baseline of our tax keeps moving," Council member Crosby said, urging the city to oppose the measure. Council member Laauo said it was important to put the city's objections on record, adding that "we never knew where the money was going" on prior county measures and that some cities received little of the funding. Laauo also raised concerns about transparency and potential misdirection of funds.
Council member Johnson briefly spoke in support of the resolution. With a motion by Council member Johnson and a second, the council approved the resolution (vote recorded as approved 4-0 with one member absent) and directed staff to forward it to the Board of Supervisors.
The resolution opposes the county's proposed half-cent general sales tax and requests greater specificity and accountability in any county spending plan so that city-level impacts and distributions are clear. The measure would be a general tax requiring a simple majority to pass, not a special-purpose tax that typically requires a higher threshold.
The council did not receive public comment on the item and did not adopt any alternative funding proposal. The resolution now becomes the city's formal response to the county ballot measure and will be transmitted to county officials.
