The Daily Briefing, Writing Shotgun

SCHOOL DISTRICT PARCEL TAX REJECTED AT POLLS

Theo DouglasWed. November 04
 

Per LBReport.com, voters have soundly rejected Measure T, the proposed Long Beach Unified School District parcel tax on Tuesday’s ballot, which would have added approximately $92 per parcel to residents’ property tax bills.

“The measure required two-thirds voter approval … and failed to garner a simple majority,” LBReport.com’s Bill Pearl writes, citing early returns that had the measure trailing 42.3 percent to 57.7 percent at 8:02 p.m. Tuesday.

As the night wore on, the news didn’t improve. Final, non-certified results, with 138 of 138 precincts reporting show 56.89 percent of those casting ballots voted “No,” or 18,238 votes against; and 43.11 percent of voters, voted “Yes,” or 13,823 votes.

Clearly, that wasn’t what was required, and Long Beach Unified Superintendent Chris Steinhauser had this to say to LBReport.com, by email:

“The voters have spoken and we respect their decision,” Steinhauser wrote in part. “But the fact remains that we have a $90 million hole in our budget.”

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

  • willingtopayforastronglbusd
    Judging by the utter lack of any effort by anyone to communicate a justification for for this permanent increase in my property taxes (other than "we have a $90 million hole in our budget"), is anyone suprised by this result?

    BTW - How many registered voters are there in the LBUSD? (is 32,061 a large turnout or a small turnout?)
  • nickfiesta
    Sometimes LB voters get it right, just like Measure J. Good job, voters!
  • howardx
    money saving idea for lbusd

    cut high school football, wastes millions yearly, only benefits select few.
  • Vivian Drooman
    Where are our funds for schools, libraries, health care, infrastructure, etc., etc.? In Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as in useless military projects that will never see the light of day. As the U.S. defense budget continues to grow (well over 50% of the total budget at this point), federal funds to states and cities have to shrink. Connect the dots. It may seem far away and hard to comprehend, but this obscene spending, which provides no benefit to ANY American, Iraqi or Afghan, is turning us into a Third World Country. Of course, LBUSD could always hold a $90 million bake sale.
  • justdesserts
    After the School District's spokesperson insulted the hell out of the councilmember who was speaking before him, several senior citizens went home and tore up their ballots which they had cast in favor of the measure. They were also offended when he complained that budget cuts had meant he didn't have a private secretary anymore...booo..Did anyone even ask why the school district needed a full time paid spokesperson anyway...
  • Seniors were exempt from paying this tax.
  • howardx
    how could they tear up the ballots if they had already cast them?
  • justdesserts
    Absentee ballots that were ready to mail. Seniors are not exempt from voting for it. They have to file an exemption form after the tax is passed. Those forms become public and everyone gets to see which seniors own what property. Nice.
  • howardx
    "Those forms become public and everyone gets to see which seniors own what property"

    who, besides paranoid seniors, do you think cares?
blog comments powered by Disqus
 

© 2007-2008 Seven Days Publishing LLC.