A half-percent raise of Los Angeles City’s sales tax would fund new stations, a refreshed reserve fleet and a significant increase in the department’s total firefighters and paramedics

For the second time in a year, Angelenos will have the choice to raise their own taxes. This time, it’s to fight fire.

Los Angeles City’s November ballot will include a measure to increase the sales tax by a half-percent to fund an expansion of the fire department. The City Council unanimously approved the measure Tuesday with a 14-0 vote; District 11’s Councilmember Traci Park was absent.

For Angelenos, sales taxes currently sit at 9.75%, though this number will grow to 10.25% starting Oct. 1 for goods excluding groceries and medications after Measure ER passed this last election. The Tuesday measure’s proposed extra hike would put L.A. City’s tax rate on par with multiple cities in the county, among them Santa Monica, Compton and Azusa, at 10.75%.

The measure was brought forth by members of the United Firefighters of Los Angeles City, IAFF Local 112, the city’s labor union for firefighters and paramedics. It’s necessary, they say, because the department is a fraction of the size it should be to properly care for L.A.’s firefighting needs.

“We’re answering five times the calls that we had in the 1960s with the same number of firefighters, and fewer stations,” said Ryan Quigley, UFLAC’s secretary

The proposed tax would generate $345 million that would fund more stations, a refresh of a reserve fleet “more than 95% out of service,” and nearly double the department’s firefighters and paramedics. It’s also built to guarantee funds go to the right place.

“This ballot measure will save lives, period,” said UFLAC President Doug Coates. “It’s accountable, all new revenue must be spent on core LAFD services and existing levels of the LAFD funding that must be protected. It creates an independent citizen oversight committee and requires annual public audits.”

While Boyle Heights’s massive warehouse fire seems to finally be near extinguishing, neighborhoods across the city continue to reel from its effects. According to District 1 Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez, this measure on the November ballot is an opportunity to prevent crises as dire as this one, as well as the historic Palisades and Eaton fires and their ongoing effects.

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“We have a responsibility to be honest about the conversation that it will take to protect our communities,” Hernandez said. “This measure gives the voters a chance to weigh in on that question directly.”