Community commentary -- Richard Luehrs

Contrary to popular belief, property taxes only pay for a small

portion of the outstanding services we take for granted in Newport Beach.

In fact, the property taxes we pay each year generate about 17 cents

of every dollar of taxes paid in the city. This year those taxes will

total about $26 million.

But the annual budget for the Newport Beach Police Department is $25

million alone and the operating budget for the entire city is $125

million.

Yes, your math is correct; your property taxes barely cover the annual

budget of the Police Department. Who sees that the rest of our quality of

life is funded? For the most part, it’s the business community.

Businesses in the city are the ones that pay the bills through sales,

business license and transient occupancy taxes and their fair share of

property taxes.

In Newport Beach, we are very fortunate. We have a low crime rate,

top-of-the line fire and lifeguard departments, free refuse collection,

efficient public works, one of the country’s finest library systems and a

host of other amenities, adding up to a terrific quality of life that is

due in part to a very successful business climate.

Business drives this community’s economic well-being while we go about

our daily tasks with little concern about how the city pays for the many

services we have come to expect and enjoy. As the cost of providing these

services continues to increase, unless we as local residents wish to have

our taxes increased or see services reduced, Newport Beach needs business

for the continued success of our pristine community.

Every philanthropic endeavor ever proposed in the city has been

supported by business. From the Performing Arts Center and Balboa Theater

Foundation to the Central Library and Environmental Nature Center,

business has provided the lion’s share of the financial wherewithal to

develop and maintain these important community-enrichment facilities that

so greatly add to our quality of life.

Now business is not all about taxes. Its members also represent an

important leadership role on matters relating to the successful

progression of our community.

From school fund-raisers to aid to the less fortunate, you will find

members of the business community actively participating on boards of

directors and small committees in a host of philanthropic endeavors.

Recently, the governor returned a 1993 tax increase to California

taxpayers. In 1993, the sales tax rate was raised by one-quarter cent to

balance the budget in a slumping economy. Now, thanks to a very robust

economy and business climate, the governor has ended the quarter-cent tax

hike.

This is one of its first tax breaks California has enjoyed in years,

and who do we have to thank for this break? The business community and

employers who assume risk, take on increased payroll and provide the

financial resources to improve our quality of life.

We have the business community to thank for the little extra off our

dinner bill or the slight reduction on that new outfit we just bought at

our favorite department store. A quarter-cent tax rate may not seem like

a big deal, but if you multiply the millions of people in California on a

daily basis, it becomes a substantial tax break.

The Newport Harbor Area Chamber of Commerce urges people in Newport

Beach to take a moment to understand the fact that if it were not for

business we would not be able to live, work and play in such a wonderful

place.

Don’t forget, we pay the same property taxes as any other city in the

county, but thanks to the business community we get to live in a

beautiful, clean and safe community.

With all of the slow-growth talk going on, it is sometimes easy to

overlook who is actually paying the bills. At times it seems that many

people in the community do not understand that their lives would be

dramatically different if it were not for the business community leading

the way.

* RICHARD LUEHRS is president and chief executive of the Newport

Harbor Area Chamber of Commerce.