LA taxes look set to rise as votes tallied for Measure FD

Los Angeles voters were leaning toward approving a tax hike that would pump hundreds of millions of dollars into the city’s Fire Department, with a half-cent sales tax increase leading Tuesday night despite a bitter fight over affordability.Measure FD was ahead with 54% support and 46% opposition in the first batch of election results released at 8:17 p.m.by the Los Angeles County registrar’s office.The voter-backed initiative needs only a simple majority to pass, rather than the two-thirds threshold required for some tax increases.

More ballots, including those cast at vote centers on Election Day, were expected to be counted throughout the night, with the final results not expected until Nov.27.If approved, the measure would raise the city’s sales tax from 10.25% to 10.75%, generating an estimated $345 million annually for the Los Angeles Fire Department.The department now draws most of its funding, a budget of nearly $1 billion, from the city’s general fund, which it shares with most other city departments.The measure also requires the city to keep funding the department at its average share of the general fund over the decade before the measure qualified for the ballot.

That provision is meant to keep City Hall from using the new money to replace existing funding.The United Firefighters of Los Angeles City Local 112 put the measure on the ballot.The union represents the city’s rank-and-file firefighters.

It says the money would pay for more firefighters and paramedics, new and modernized stations, new equipment, and expanded brush clearance and wildfire prevention.By 2050, the union says, the tax would fund at least 30 new stations and grow the department by about 1,400 people.Supporters pointed to the January 2025 Palisades Fire, which destroyed thousands of homes and killed 12 people.

LAFD’s own after-action report on the fire found that limited staffing and dozens of aging or broken-down front-line vehicles hampered the response.“Measure FD ...