Cities Plan Mail-In Elections on Taxes

West Covina and Monrovia have become the latest San Gabriel Valley cities to ask homeowners to vote by mail-in ballot on special taxes to pay for services.

In the wake of November’s passage of Proposition 218, which prohibits local governments from taxing property owners for services without voter approval, cities faced with the potential loss of millions of dollars are turning to the mail-in vote by property owners rather than the regular electorate.

The five-member West Covina City Council voted 4-1 early Wednesday--with Councilman Michael Touhey dissenting--to ask the city’s property owners to participate in a mail-in election to approve the continuation of an annual special tax to pay for street and tree maintenance. Ballots will be sent out June 1.

The city’s 26,000 property owners will have 45 days to return the ballots. If the assessment is approved by a simple majority of voters, the tax will continue.

The levy for a single household would be less than it is now--reduced from $111 to $38 a year--because Proposition 218 does not allow tax revenue to be spent for traffic lights and medians that were part of the old assessment approved by the council, city officials said. The assessment will generate $1.2 million a year if approved. But city officials said they will still need to find $3.3 million to pay for traffic lights and medians.

The Monrovia City Council has approved a mail-in election on whether to continue a levy that pays for maintenance of its seven parks. Ballots will be mailed May 16 to the city’s 9,866 property owners. If homeowners approve, the assessment will provide $135,000 a year for parks and cost the average homeowner $7.42 annually.

The votes in West Covina and Monrovia follow similar decisions by city councils in Arcadia and Duarte to ask homeowners to mail in ballots on local assessments.