Hermosa Beach City Council on Tuesday heard that it could face a legal challenge if it places a tax measure before voters to get more money to the cash-strapped public schools. 
On the tax front, the city school board has asked the City Council to consider placing a tax measure before voters. On Tuesday, City Attorney Michael Jenkins told the council it is not clear whether city governments in California can give money to the public schools.
Jenkins pointed out that several cities, including neighboring Manhattan Beach, have given money to their schools. But he said the legality of that practice has not been tested in court, and the state Constitution and previous court cases appear to place school funding exclusively in the hands of state officials.
Jenkins stressed that his opinion was a conservative one, and he was not certain whether a legal challenge would be successful.
The school board also is considering placing its own parcel tax measure before voters.
A member of the school district’s Strategic Planning Committee, which is studying the schools’ economic future, urged the council to continue considering a city tax, and pointed out that Jenkins said he could defend a city tax if directed to do so.
“We have virtually no methods or mechanics for raising revenues,” school board President Jack Burns told the council.
He said a city tax measure for the schools could be shown to benefit the community at large, which, according to Jenkins, would be vital in defending the measure.
The council took no immediate action on the matter.
On the smoking front, the council agreed to put up small signs with a “Healthy Air Hermosa” theme to alert people to a smoking ban beginning March 1 in all outdoor dining areas, on The Strand and Pier Plaza, in parks including the greenbelt, in city parking lots, and on seaside walk streets.
Councilman Kit Bobko, an opponent of the ban, cast a lone dissenting vote.
Craig Cadwallader of Surfrider Foundation, one of many health and environmental organizations supporting the ban, urged council members to have a plan in place directing people to downtown-area places that will remain legal for smoking, before the ban begins.
City Manager Steve Burrell said people will be allowed to smoke on Hermosa Avenue and Beach Drive.
The $19,000 cost of an education campaign for the ban, including the signs, will be borne byLos AngelesCounty.
On the economic development front, the council agreed to move toward finding a consultant who would help create an economic development plan that would address the future of the civic center at Pier Avenue and Valley Drive, and large properties that could change hands in the heart of the seaside downtown.
The seaside properties, in the hands of the right developers, could “have a transformative effect on the downtown,” said Councilman Michael DiVirgilio.
In other matters, the council agreed to place an additional beach volleyball net near16th Street, in a move that Mayor Howard Fishman described as a compromise between the interests of neighbors who wanted two new courts and other neighbors who wanted none.
And the council honored tireless civic volunteer Jan Biyarski, who passed away Dec. 31. Councilman Jeff Duclos praised her as a charter member of Hermosa Beach Neighborhood Watch and the civilian Volunteers In Police Services, who was instrumental in putting together Hermosa’s initial National Night Out event.
“She loved Hermosa Beach, she was dedicated to serving this community, and she will be missed,” Duclos said.
