East LA – Supervisor Hilda L. Solis

A Bad Deal for East Los Angeles

California is facing a historic budget deficit. The last thing taxpayers need is to waste money on a study that will not reveal any information we don’t already know.

A bill now before the State Senate to assess the economic viability of incorporating East Los Angeles is expensive and fundamentally flawed. It will cost taxpayers nearly $14 million, jeopardize union jobs, and skates so close to the ethical line that it will almost certainly face legal challenges.

Every study shows incorporation will create an immediate, multi-million-dollar budget deficit which East Los Angeles residents and businesses would have to close by paying higher taxes, slashing vital community programs, or outsourcing services to private, possibly non-union, contractors.

Who opposes this incorporation plan?

Over 3,500 residents, 16 community organizations, and over a dozen unions that serve East Los Angeles residents have united to oppose this incorporation plan.

Unions united against this bill include the Los Angeles County Labor Federation, SEIU California including Local 721, Local 2015, and the Committee of Interns and Residents; the co-chairs of the Coalition of County Unions – the Association of Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs (ALADS) and the Los Angeles County Firefighters Local 1014; the Los Angeles County Probation Officers’ Union – AFSCME Local 685; California Association of Professional Employees (CAPE); the Union of American Physicians and Dentists (UAPD); the Professional Peace Officers Association (PPOA); as well as SEIU 2015; IBEW Local 11; LiUNA Local 300; and UNITE HERE Local 11.

Residents Opposed to Incorporation

Unions Opposed to Incorporation

Community Organizations Opposed to Incorporation

Alma Family Services
Bienestar
East Area Progressive Democrats
East Los Angeles Boys and Girls Club
Fideicomiso Comunitario Tierra Libre
Jovenes, Inc.
Los Angeles County Democratic Party
Los Angeles County Hispanic Managers Association
Nuevo Amanecer
Pacific Asian Consortium in Employment (PACE)

Community Stakeholders Opposed to Incorporation

Monsignor John Moretta – Resurrection Church
Ricardo Mendoza – Coalition for Responsible Community Development
Maurice Ramirez – Domus

Government Agencies Opposed Incorporation

A brief history of East Los Angeles incorporation

This is now the fifth attempt to incorporate East Los Angeles. Every previous study of incorporation has reached the same conclusion: East Los Angeles does not generate enough tax revenue to make incorporation economically viable, which is required by state law, and that incorporation would create an immediate, multi-million-dollar budget deficit.

A 2012 comprehensive finance and fiscal analysis by the Local Agency Formation Commission for Los Angeles County showed that East Los Angeles does not generate sufficient tax revenue to sustain cityhood, as California law requires. The analysis showed that in the first year alone, East Los Angeles would run a $19-millon deficit.

That deficit would be significantly higher today given that costs for every public service has grown since. Sheriff’s Department and Fire Department costs, for example, have increased 66 percent and 59 percent, respectively, over the last year alone.

A decade of investments

Over the last decade Supervisor Hilda L. Solis, who represents the First District, has helped direct more than $500 million to East Los Angeles. These include:

$30 million to the Department of Parks and Recreation
Over $18 million to the Fire Department for fire protection and emergency services
$54 million each year to the Sheriff’s Department for law enforcement and public safety
$150 million for infrastructure projects
$26 million for maintenance operations
Almost $260 million to build 17 new affordable housing facilities with 875 new units

$32 million dollars in rent relief for vulnerable families
Providing 600 families with tenant-based housing vouchers; and
Providing over 5,600 households with legal services to prevent evictions
$102.8 million annually for municipal services for operation and maintenance
$20 million in Community Development Block Grants for small businesses, seniors, and low-income residents
$50 million in COVID-19 relief

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Update

At my direction, every County department was instructed to conduct a detailed analysis of every dollar spent on every program and service in the East Los Angeles community and have it completed within 120 days. I am disappointed that the deadline will not be met by our County departments and have instructed our Chief Executive Office to do everything necessary to get the job done as quickly as possible. The people of East Los Angeles have made it clear they want accountability and transparency, and that is exactly what I aim to provide as Supervisor for the First District.

Since AB 2986’s introduction I have worked to highlight this bill’s deep flaws — these include its $14 million price tag as well as the attempt to circumvent the State of California’s established incorporation procedures, which require every initiative to collect petition signatures from roughly 25 percent of eligible voters.

The fact is that more than 3,500 residents, 16 community organizations, and over a dozen unions who serve East Los Angeles residents, as well as the State of California’s Department of Finance, stand in opposition to AB 2986.

Many recognize that the bill is a bad deal for East Los Angeles, but more so, understand the implications should the bill become law. There will continue to be a false narrative that AB 2986 is a step towards city-hood when it in fact is not. It is an unnecessary overreach of State authority to oversee work the County is already undertaking.