The Los Angeles Police Department’s officer union said Tuesday it will oppose Measure FD, the half-cent sales tax measure on the Nov. 3 ballot pushed by the city firefighters union — setting up a bitter and expensive clash between two of the city’s most powerful unions.
The Police Protective League said it plans to spend several million dollars on broadcast and digital advertising as well as mailers to oppose Measure FD, which if approved by voters would direct hundreds of millions dollars annually to the Fire Department to build new stations, hire new firefighters and upgrade equipment.
Measure FD was pushed by the United Firefighters of Los Angeles City Local 112, the union representing rank-and-file firefighters. The union says the measure is essential to modernizing the city’s Fire Department to make sure Angelenos are safe.
But the PPL is mounting a last-minute campaign to squash the tax.
“Our issue is that this is a permanent tax — a forever tax,” said Rick Mendoza, the president of the Police Protective League, in an interview. “We’re 100% for hiring firefighters and prioritizing public safety. This is not shot at the firefighters. It’s an affordability issue. No one likes the permanence of a tax with no end in sight.”
The firefighters union president, Doug Coates, said the UFLAC respected PPL’s decision, but thought it was a bad idea.
“They are choosing to keep the public at risk — especially in our most vulnerable communities,” Coates said. “Measure FD is the most important public safety decision this city has faced in a generation. We urge everyone to vote yes.”
The opposition from PPL led UFLAC to call for a special meeting of its membership on Oct. 16, according to an email shared with The Times. The union’s executive board is asking members to authorize an additional $3 million in spending in support of the measure. UFLAC has already spent more than $2 million on the measure.
“Our internal polling shows that Measure FD is in a good position to get majority support from Los Angeles voters, but opposition from the police officers’ union and potential money spent against our measure requires a strong response from UFLAC,” wrote the executive board of the union in an email Monday to membership that was shared with The Times.
While Measure FD has drawn headlines, the ballot initiative didn’t immediately draw much opposition after it qualified for the November election.
Up to this point, the main opponent of the initiative has been the Howard Jarvis Taxpayer’s Assn., a non-profit that advocates for lower taxes.
The measure needs only a simple majority of voters to support it for it to pass.
The measure would being the city’s sales tax to 10.75% and will cost an average of $86 per person and $345 for a family of four in additional sales taxes each year, according to the Howard Jarvis Taxpayer’s Assn.
The Fire Department already has a budget nearing $1 billion and the tax is expected to generate another $345 million annually to the department that has long said it is woefully underfunded.
If passed, the ballot initiative would require the city to continue funding the department at the same average percentage of the general fund that it was funded in the decade before the initiative was placed on the ballot.
UFLAC has said that by 2050, the tax would allow the department to build at least 30 new fire stations, buy new fire trucks, and increase the size of the department by about 1,400 people.
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