Los Angeles Firefighters Union Proposes Tax to Fund Operations

Even before the Palisades fire had been extinguished, the city's fire department budget had become a topic of great scrutiny.

Some accused Mayor Karen Bass of reducing fire department operations amid a budget crunch. But the budget actually increased after firefighters received raises and the city made additional investments in new firetrucks and other department purchases, Bass and her team said.

Now, nearly a year after the firestorm decimated the coastal community, L.A.'s firefighter union has proposed a ballot measure that would leave no question about the growth of the department's budget: a dedicated half-cent sales tax that would raise hundreds of millions of dollars each year for the fire department.

The United Firefighters of Los Angeles City Local 112 plans to submit language for the ballot measure in the coming days.

"This is the most important thing for the LAFD really ever," said Doug Coates, the acting president of UFLAC. "We need the support of the citizens to push this through because this is what's going to help save the LAFD."

By 2050, the sales tax would raise at least $9.8 billion, UFLAC said, allowing 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, according to Coates and Councilmember Traci Park, who represents the Pacific Palisades.

Park, appearing before the Sherman Oaks Homeowners Assn. on Wednesday, said the city does not have the money to build new fire stations, repair existing ones and expand department operations.

"The reality though about the fire department is that we are not going to solve this inside the four walls of this city budget," Park said during a Sherman Oaks Homeowners Association meeting Wednesday.

Park said she was "all in" on the ballot measure.

The sales tax would represent the biggest investment in the city's fire department since 2000, when voters approved Proposition F, a ballot measure that authorized the issuance of a $532 million bond — more than half of which was allocated to build 19 neighborhood fire stations and a helicopter maintenance facility.

If supporters gather enough signatures, the measure would appear on the November 2026 ballot. That mid-term election will also feature contests for mayor, city attorney, and numerous council seats.

While Bass did not immediately confirm support for the specific ballot measure, she said she was "supportive" of "new revenue sources" for the LAFD.

"For more than 30 years, LAFD has needed more fire stations and additional resources," she said in a statement to The Times.

The mayor said she had committed additional resources to the department every year she has been in office, noting that this year's budget included 17 additional fleet maintenance positions, which would bring the department to its highest fleet maintenance staffing since 1995.

The department did face cuts during this year's budgeting process, though its budget went up overall. The city cut the department's Bureau of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion and also nixed the LAFD's emergency incident technicians, who help coordinate responses to fires. The emergency incident technicians were reassigned to other positions in the department.

The firefighter's union has consistently argued that the LAFD is severely underfunded, saying the department's growth has not matched population growth over the last 60 years.

The union has called for the construction of more than 60 new fire stations, based on an LAFD report written in conjunction with the International Assn. of Fire Fighters, the parent organization of the UFLAC.

"If you want the Dodgers success, you have to fund it. If you want success in the fire department, you have to fund it," said Frank Lima, the general secretary-treasurer of the IAFF.

The push for a sales tax increase follows a period of union turmoil.

In May, the local's president, Freddy Escobar, was suspended from his position after an investigation by IAFF found that he, Coates and another top officer had not properly documented $800,000 in credit card purchases.

Separately, an investigation by The Times found that Escobar was paid more than $500,000 in 2022 while working about 78 hours per week for the union and the fire department. The LAFD responded at the time that it was conducting a review of its procedures for tracking the hours and reimbursement for people on union leave.

The IAFF appointed a conservator, John Bagala, to "restore responsible financial stewardship and guarantee the fulfillment of UFLAC's legitimate objectives," at the local union.

The conservatorship ended Nov. 1. Escobar remains suspended as the charges against him are investigated.

Coates, who had also been suspended, became the acting president.

"The charges [against Coates] were resolved," said Ryan Heffernan, a spokesman for IAFF.

Times staff writer David Zahniser contributed to this report.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

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