Welcome to the Long Beach Post’s nonpartisan voter guide. We’re a nonprofit newsroom that is able to cover our city because of donations from readers like you. Check out our full voter guide for local ballot measures and races at lbpost.com/elections.
The city of Long Beach is expecting to have budget problems in the future with less and less money coming in from local oil production. One way the city wants to fix that is by raising taxes on two local power plants.
For years, the two plants on the far east side of town have been exempt from paying a 5% utility tax that residents and businesses already pay. Getting rid of that exemption could raise $15 million in annual revenue for the city budget.
Measure LB won’t raise taxes on residents or other local businesses, but it could affect their utility bills. One of the plants, owned by the LADWP, serves customers almost entirely outside Long Beach. But the second plant, which produces power for SoCal Edison, supplies energy across Southern California — including in Long Beach. SoCal Edison wants to pass along the cost of the tax increase to only customers in Long Beach, something which would add an estimated $4 a month or $50 annually to their electric bills. However, Long Beach city officials argue that the increase should be split evenly among all SoCal Edison customers, making the impact on each individual bill much lower, about 50 cents a month or $6 annually. Which group bears the burden of the rate increase would be up to the California Public Utilities Commission.
SoCal Edison argues that eliminating the tax exemption for power companies will amount to double taxation because residents already pay a tax on utilities. Long Beach officials argue it will just ensure the companies pay their fair share to fund necessities like public safety, parks, libraries and other general city services.