{"id":299436,"date":"2026-05-04T17:52:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T17:52:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/299436\/"},"modified":"2026-05-04T17:52:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T17:52:13","slug":"will-long-beach-back-another-sales-tax-hike-long-beach-post-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/299436\/","title":{"rendered":"Will Long Beach back another sales tax hike? \u2022 Long Beach Post"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good morning, Long Beach. It\u2019s Monday, May 4. Here\u2019s what you need to know to start your day. Get this in your inbox each week by signing up at LBPost.com\/newsletters<\/a>.<\/p>\n

City meetings<\/p>\n

Mayor Rex Richardson wants his City Council colleagues to endorse a countywide sales tax increase<\/a>. At their meeting this Tuesday<\/a>, he\u2019ll ask them to throw their support behind a ballot measure that would raise L.A. County\u2019s rate by a half-percent. In other words, an extra half cent on every dollar spent.<\/p>\n

The city and county have already raised their respective sales taxes<\/a> in recent years to fund things like infrastructure improvements, public safety salaries and homelessness prevention<\/a>. But Richardson and the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors say there\u2019s a new, dire need for another increase.<\/p>\n

The city and county are bracing for major cuts to their health systems, in large part due to federal policy shifts. Long Beach is already feeling the pinch, having to cut 44 health department jobs and programs like nutrition classes and mobile HIV testing after losing about $18 million in federal funding.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

L.A. County\u2019s health department, meanwhile, is projecting it\u2019s going to lose $800 million annually, thanks in large part to H.R. 1 \u2014 Trump\u2019s \u201cOne Big Beautiful Bill Act.\u201d The county\u2019s public hospitals and medical clinics anticipate being hit especially hard by provisions in H.R. 1 that will strip Medi-Cal coverage from hundreds of thousands of L.A. County residents. Proponents say this will cause a ripple effect, forcing clinics to close and driving up prices for everyone.<\/p>\n

Richardson warned that \u201creductions in healthcare capacity regionally would place additional strain on local emergency rooms, increase wait times, and reduce access to preventative and primary care, resulting in worse health outcomes and higher long-term costs.\u201d<\/p>\n

L.A. County voters will have the ultimate say on the tax, known as Measure ER<\/a>. It could be a tough sell in Long Beach. A poll late last year found<\/a> the local electorate was in a \u201chighly pessimistic mood\u201d and had little appetite for new taxes.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll soon find out if the rest of the county feels the same. Measure ER is up for a vote in the June 2 Primary. That\u2019s right, it\u2019s less than a month to Election Day. Your ballot is probably already in your mailbox or on its way.<\/p>\n

When you start filling it out, be sure to use our local voter guide at LBPost.com\/elections<\/a>.\u00a0It won\u2019t tell you how to vote, but it will arm you with facts about all the candidates and measures so you can make an informed decision that you feel good about.<\/p>\n

Other City Council items to know about:<\/p>\n

Council members will also retake a discussion on Tuesday on whether to approve a contract<\/a> for security guards to patrol Belmont Shore. The item was tabled last month after criticisms from the public and Councilmember Kristina Duggan questioning the effectiveness of security to curb disorderly conduct<\/a> along the popular tourist strip.<\/p>\n

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Business events and information<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s your most important event reminder: Mother\u2019s Day is Sunday. Don\u2019t wait until the last minute to send that card or book that brunch.<\/p>\n

Back to business. If you live or work downtown, consider attending this candidates\u2019 forum<\/a> Saturday, where five people vying to be the area\u2019s City Council member will answer questions. It\u2019s from 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. in the Shannon\u2019s At the Top events space, 105 W. Broadway, Long Beach. It\u2019s followed by a meet-and-greet at the Secret Island tikibar downstairs. RSVP here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Lastly, in case you hadn\u2019t heard, a major Long Beach nonprofit announced some big news last week. The Long Beach Post and Long Beach Business Journal (that\u2019s us!) are joining forces with The LA Local<\/a>, which already does stellar work covering other areas of Los Angeles County. It\u2019s great news for us. And it means we\u2019re hiring<\/a>!<\/p>\n

ICYMI \u2014 California and national news<\/p>\n

How tariffs and war are hurting California small businesses (CalMatters<\/a>)<\/p>\n

The truth about business in California \u2014 the Golden State hasn\u2019t lost its luster (Los Angeles Times<\/a>)<\/p>\n

He recorded his quest for tariff refunds. It shows why billions may never get repaid (NPR<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Good morning, Long Beach. It\u2019s Monday, May 4. Here\u2019s what you need to know to start your day.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":299055,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[131,133,132],"class_list":["post-299436","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-long-beach","tag-long-beach","tag-long-beach-headlines","tag-long-beach-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299436","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=299436"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299436\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/299055"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=299436"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=299436"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=299436"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}