ANAHEIM : Council Opposes Bid to Reimpose 2% Tax

Councilman Irv Pickler has proposed reinstituting the city’s utility tax to put more money into the police, parks and library departments, but a council majority is opposed.

Pickler asked the council Tuesday to reimpose the 2% tax, which expired in September. Half of the $8 million that the tax would raise annually could help add at least 50 police officers and the other half could bolster library and park programs, he said.

The tax was imposed on water, gas, electric and telephone bills in 1991 as a two-year measure to help the city balance its books during the recession. Before and since its expiration date, Pickler had made several vague proposals to continue the tax, saying the city still has many of the same financial problems, but this was his first specific plan for the tax.

“We see an increase in gang activity in our neighborhoods,” he said. “Our police officers are frustrated and dissatisfied. We’ve cut back on park and recreation services. And our libraries are limping around on shorter hours and fewer books. (And) our city manager is telling us that our future is even gloomier.”

Councilman Bob D. Simpson also supports reimposing the tax.

But Mayor Tom Daly and council members Fred Hunter and Frank Feldhaus oppose the tax.

Daly called Pickler’s request “a broken record,” and said the city’s annual police budget has increased from $33.8 million to $51 million in the last five years and that more officers could be hired if the city government was more efficient.

The mayor also pointed out that most Orange County cities do not have utility taxes and that the city receives $30 million annually from its hotel bed tax, far more than any other local city.