The Weekly Newspaper of El Segundo
Herald Publications - El Segundo, Torrance, Manhattan Beach, Hawthorne, Lawndale, & Inglewood Community Newspapers Since 1911 - (310) 322-1830 - Vol. 107, No. 7 - February 15, 2018
Inside
This Issue
Certified & Licensed
Professionals.....................14
Classifieds............................4
Crossword/Sudoku.............4
Entertainment......................6
Legals............................12-13
Letters...................................3
Pets......................................16
Police Briefs........................3
Real Estate.....................7-11
Sports.............................. 5,15
Weekend
Forecast
Friday
Sunny
72˚/50˚
Saturday
Sunny
71˚/52˚
Sunday
Mostly
Cloudy
64˚/51˚
SpaceX Celebrates Good Launch
Employees from neighboring SpaceX celebrated at various El Segundo venues last Tuesday after the successful launch of the Falcon Heavy super rocket at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. In the photo,
a group gathered at The Tavern on Main to raise their glasses (and phones, as news of the event aired on TV). Photo: Kristian Krieger.
City Leaders See April 10 Sales Tax Ballot
Measure as “No-Brainer” for El Segundo
By Brian Simon
With pension costs continually growing
and budget deficits anticipated in the nottoo
ES School Board Gets Tracking Poll Info
as It Considers Possible Bond Measure
By Duane Plank
of factors made us more excited about
Ten years after the El Segundo voters
going out in November.”
passed a $14 million school bond, it is
Continued Moore: “First off, the needs
possible that the citizens in town will
of the Board-adopted 2016 Long Range
have their chance to cast a yea or nay on
Master Facilities Plan are not going
another school bond when they traverse
away. We have been working hard to
to their local polling spot on Nov. 6. At
listen to our community. And we need to
one time it appeared that El Segundo
be responsive to what we are hearing.”
Unified School District would set up a
She wrote that the Board has utilized a
bond ballot election this June, but after
“thoughtful approach” to another bond,
doing their due diligence decided to look
and that the members sought “significant
to the fall.
input from the community.” She added
Prior to Tuesday’s El Segundo School
that the District intends to “take a hard
Board meeting, District Superintendent
look at the size of the bond” and closely
Melissa Moore emailed that “planning
identify priority projects.
for a major school bond issue is a major
Moore concluded in her email, “We plan
undertaking. We had been considering
to use this opportunity to make a great
going for a bond in June, but a number
distant future, the City of El Segundo
could sure use, oh, $9 million or so extra
in its coffers every year. That’s one reason
why the Measure C three-quarter-percent
(0.75 cents on the dollar) sales tax increase
is on the April ballot. Except there’s an unusual
catch. No one on the El Segundo City
Council wants to raise taxes. If passed by
local voters, the initiative to potentially up
the sales tax from the current 9.50 percent to
10.25 percent will only kick in if the County
of Los Angeles places its own regional sales
tax measure on the ballot.
“Measure C provides El Segundo local
control of a 0.75 percent sales tax only if
Los Angeles County attempts to raise the
sales tax,” Mayor Suzanne Fuentes said.
“El Segundo is historically a donor city to
the State and County, receiving a minuscule
return of our 9.50 percent sales tax. With an
unfunded pension liability tsunami facing
us in the next few years, we must identify
an alternate revenue source. Measure C tax
revenues will allow us to pay our liability
and maintain a high level of city services.”
If a majority of local voters approve Measure
C on April 10, El Segundo’s sales tax
rate will still remain at 9.50 percent for the
foreseeable future. “It’s strictly a preemptive
measure,” explained Councilmember Don
Brann, who wrote the ballot argument in favor
of the initiative. No opponents submitted an
argument against Measure C. “To me, this
is a no-brainer. The City of El Segundo will
not collect any extra tax unless LA County
puts its own sales tax increase on a future
ballot. The key to this is if we pass our own
measure first, then El Segundo will get to keep
the additional revenues once we implement
the tax – which will only be at the time the
County moves forward with its own ballot
measure. If we do nothing and the County
beats us to the punch, then our residents
will have to pay that extra tax anyway…but
the money will go to the County instead of
El Segundo.”
According to City Attorney Mark Hensley,
the “preemptive” strategy is the first of its
kind in California with no precedent. Last
year, neighboring Hawthorne voters overwhelmingly
approved a 0.50 percent sales tax
increase to provide an influx of much-needed
revenues as that city faced severe financial
hurdles. But there was no contingency clause.
A number of other municipalities also passed
similar increases in recent years. While the
See Measure C, page 13
See School Board, page 12