Trash fee not enough to pay for cops
The L.A. trash fee hikes enacted over the past two years were never enough to cover the cost of hiring 1,000 police officers, and even Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's proposed increase this year won't cover the full expense of expanding the force, city records show.Kerry Cavanaugh in the Daily News.
The findings come after Villaraigosa told Angelenos in 2006 that he would raise the monthly garbage collection fee from $11 to $28 over four years to pay for 1,000 more Los Angeles police officers, boosting the ranks to 10,000 and making the department the largest in city history.
While previous mayors' efforts to raise the trash fee were shot down, residents and neighborhood councils endorsed Villaraigosa's plan to boost public safety by accepting a 150percent rate hike to pay for more cops.