A Note Concerning Proposed Streetlight Maintenance Assessment District Tax Assessment
A Note Concerning Proposed Streetlight Maintenance Assessment District Tax Assessment
Recently, the Los Angeles City Council voted to establish a new Streetlight Maintenance Assessment District to raise approximately $125 million-a-year that will be assessed to property owners on their property tax bills. Ballots have been mailed, and to stop this additional property tax, more than 50% of ballots must be returned by mail and marked with a NO VOTE.
This Streetlight Maintenance Assessment District ballot is different from other ballots, like the ballots previously distributed for sewer and trash fees, in that only the returned ballots are counted and affect the outcome of the vote. It's not necessary to have a "NO VOTE” returned by a majority of all the ballots sent out. ONLY the ballots that have been returned count.
The returned ballots will be weighted based upon the assessed property values. If more weighted NO VOTES than yes votes are returned, the assessment fails and the Streetlight Maintenance Assessment District will not be established, and no tax can be collected.
This Vote is By Mail Only – You Will Not Vote for This at the Polls on June 2nd
It is important to note that the Streetlight Maintenance Assessment District ballot is not on the June 2nd primary ballot, but is a separate ballot mailed by the City of Los Angeles’ Bureau of Street Lighting (e.g., not being circulated from the County Registrar’s office). As a result, there will be no 7-day grace period for late-arriving by mail ballots. Ballots must be physically present in the room by June 2nd to be counted. Ballots cannot be returned in the ballot envelope that goes back to the county for the primary election, and they must be returned to the city.
Finally, anyone who lost, damaged or discarded their ballot can get a replacement by emailing: bsl-assessment@lacity.org (only property owners vote, so not everyone will get a ballot).