LOS ANGELES (CNS) — The union representing Los Angeles city firefighters began a signature-gathering campaign Thursday to place a half-cent sales tax on the November ballot to address what it calls “decades of under-investment” in the department.
Members of United Firefighters of Los Angeles and city elected officials gathered at Fire Station 58 to urge registered voters to sign the petition to qualify the initiative for the ballot. It requires a minimum of 154,000 valid signatures.
Firefighters say the city’s department is underfunded and understaffed, so they are turning to voters for more money.
“In 1960, Los Angeles had about 2.5 million residents, and the fire department handled approximately 100,000 emergency calls a year,” Richard Ramirez, a firefighter and paramedic, said. “Today, in 2026, L.A. has almost 4
million people, but we have fewer fire stations and about the same number of firefighters now responding to more than half a million emergency calls every year.”
Revenue from the half-cent sales tax would allow the Los Angeles Fire Department to hire more firefighters and civilian staff, purchase new fire trucks, engines, ambulances and other equipment, as well as build new fire stations and repair existing ones, proponents say.
“The money legally is dedicated only to the Los Angeles fire department, which means it can’t be used for other programs. It cannot be replaced existing funding,” said firefighter Dave Riles.
The measure would also mandate a so-called “maintenance of effort” provision that would require the city to maintain general fund support for the LAFD. In essence, that provision would prevent existing funding from being replaced by revenue from the sales tax.
The proposal would also require annual audits that would be presented to the public and would establish a citizens oversight committee to track all spending from the tax.
Proponents estimate the tax would generate at least $345 million in the first year.
According to the union, there are fewer firefighters than a year ago and about the same number they had in the 1960’s.
“Today Los Angeles has fewer than one firefighter per 1,000 residents. Cities like Seattle, San Francisco, Chicago, Boston, New York have staffing at nearly doubled that level,” said Ramirez.
Firefighters say current response times in Los Angeles are nearly 8 minutes – a delay they warn can be deadly during structure fires and medical emergencies.
The sales tax in the city of Los Angeles stands at 9.75%. If approved by the voters, the ballot initiative would increase it to 10.25%, which would be less than the cities of Alhambra, Burbank, Glendale, Long Beach, San Fernando, West Hollywood and Pasadena, with a 10.5% sales tax, proponents pointed out.
Critics say the tax hits low-income residents the hardest.
“Voters should ask, ‘What is in the city budget that is a higher priority than adequately funding the fire department?’ It is totally unacceptable that the City Council and mayor have underfunded the fire department and essentially told the firefighters’ union to go out and get their own tax increase,” the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association said in a statement.
“Sales taxes are already very high in Los Angeles, and they hit hardest on people who can least afford to pay more.”
Mayor Karen Bass and City Councilwoman Traci Park have both endorsed the ballot initiative.
“The city has faced extremely difficult budget cycles. New revenue sources are needed, and this ballot initiative will help ensure that we can build out the Los Angeles Fire Department to fully serve all Angelenos now and into the future,” Bass said in a statement.
Park emphasized that the new measure would help with concerns of
“This isn’t just about new fire stations or rigs or updated equipment for the LAFD. This is about preparedness. It’s about coverage. It’s about response times,” said Park.
Organizers need to collect at least 154,000 signatures from registered Los Angeles voters to get it on the November ballot.
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