Orange County exodus: Cal League of Cities loses three key members as group veers away from its charter
The California League of Cities was supposed to be a bulwark against taxation and top-down social engineering from Sacramento. Instead, the so-called advocacy group's pro-tax, anti-local control tilt has disappointed three OC municipalities, who say they've had enough. For the City of Orange, this means no more $34,000 annual dues payments without representation. Hannah Fry writes for the LA Times.
Elected officials in Newport Beach, Huntington Beach and Orange have opted to withdraw their cities’ membership over various issues, including the organization’s support of Proposition 1.
A majority of Orange County voters — roughly 58% — cast a ballot against it with many voicing concerns that it could mean more sober living homes in neighborhoods, an issue that cities have attempted to regulate for decades.
Membership fees are based on population, with a city the size of Orange paying slightly more than $34,000 a year.
[Newport Beach] Mayor Will O’Neil took issue with the league’s support of Prop. 1 and the group’s opposition to the Taxpayer Protection and Government Accountability Act, a measure that would expand the definition of a tax and raise the voter threshold to approve local taxes, among other things.
“I want to send a message that they shouldn’t have been on board with Prop. 1 in the first place,” Huntington Beach Councilman Tony Strickland said during a council meeting this month. “Their job is to represent us at the local government, not to represent Gavin Newsom.”
“It’s just unfathomable to me that when Cal Cities knew this was going to be harmful to a city like ours, they still stood up and said we’re gonna support it,” O’Neil said of Proposition 1. “It’s so hard to want to be a part of an organization that’s supposed to be advocating for us and did the exact opposite in such a high-profile way.”
Read the whole thing here.
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