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Measure A, a 1% sales-tax increase that the city originally said would last for 10 years, was made permanent by a margin of 16 votes during last March’s municipal election.
The city has used the roughly $60 million the tax generates annually to fund road and infrastructure fixes and also to maintain staffing levels for the city’s fire and police departments.
It faced vocal opposition from community groups like the Long Beach Reform Coalition, which seized on its slim victory to request a recount from Los Angeles County election officials.
However, a new $300 million voting system that allows ballots to be turned in from anywhere in the county, and a global pandemic that created a shortage of workers and mandated physical distancing for those who were available, complicated the recount and pushed the projected cost of it well over $200,000.