Public Safety Fee Before Voters Today

While some city leaders believe the odds are against them, they are still hoping that voters today will approve Measure B, a public safety services fee that would raise about $2.9 million for police and fire services.

The measure is intended to offset projected losses from the expected invalidation of the city’s 5% utility tax and other assessment fees, along with increases in police and fire costs.

But the Apartment Assn. of Orange County raised more than $24,000 to oppose the $16.88 fee, which can only be passed with the approval of a two-thirds majority.

Apartment owners, not tenants, would pay the cost of the safety services fee.

Raymond R. Maggi, past president of the apartment owners association and a leader of Measure B opposition, said most landlords could not raise rents in Stanton to make up for the cost of the fee. Maggi, who owns 66 rental units in Stanton, said he nearly lost his apartment building last year because profit margins are so slim.

Councilman David John Shawver said that if Measure B fails to win approval, the city will have to cut police services by one-third. “Seventy-five cents of every dollar we spend goes to police and fire services,” Shawver said. “Hopefully, people will remember what the crime rate was like in Stanton before we got the situation under control.”