City hires help with landscaping plans
When Plan A fails, hire a consultant to help develop Plan B.
That’s the course of action Yorba Linda officials are taking in an attempt to eliminate deficits in citywide assessment districts for street lighting and landscape maintenance.
Plan A, of course, was to ask property owners to boost arterial street lighting fees from $1.22 to $2.53 and arterial landscape maintenance fees from $46.07 to $88.47 per year, along with Consumer Price Index increases and added three percent hikes for 10 years.
That option failed miserably, defeated by a 75 percent mail-in “no” vote earlier this year. Even the Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District voted against the fee hike for 17 school parcels in the city, Superintendent Dennis Smith said.
The current $695,000 deficit is expected to rise to $894,000 by 2011-12, according to city figures. The 2008-09 arterial lighting and landscape budget was estimated at $2,205,870, including personnel, water, electric, contract maintenance and other expenses.
Costs for the citywide districts do not include expenses for the nine districts maintaining landscaping that benefits specific areas. Two are starting to face shortfalls and the other seven will experience deficits in seven years, a pre-election city brochure stated.
The city’s arterials include all or parts of Imperial Highway; Fairmont and Yorba Linda boulevards; Kellogg, Rose and Village Center drives; Buena Vista, Lakeview, La Palma and Valley View avenues; and Bastanchury, Esperanza and Richfield roads.
Immediate efforts to save money by reducing watering times won’t be enough to erase the current deficit, according to a report City Engineer Mark Stovall gave City Council members Tuesday night.
“Our goal is to reduce the watering costs 15 to 20 percent through fine tuning our irrigation controllers to optimize the watering cycle without damaging trees, shrubs and plants,” Stovall noted, estimating annual savings for arterial areas at $80,000.
Stovall stated the city would use a consultant to help prepare a comprehensive study that will outline additional efforts to eliminate the arterial district deficits and control costs in the local assessment zones.
The study will review budget balancing steps, such as “fine tuning” watering times, reducing tree trimming cycles, renovating landscape and irrigation to improve water efficiency and, “if necessary,” reducing maintenance district areas.
The city has held costs down by using long-term maintenance contracts, according to Stovall. He noted three of five contracts expire next year, which will have to be rebid, “and we anticipate that maintenance costs will rise significantly.”
A FINAL NOTE
Six miles of landscaped medians and rights-of-way have been added since a 1997 vote set current rates, and a plan to trim trees less often was reversed when costs actually went up.
So far, $200,000 from street lighting and energy funds and about $1.8 million from the city’s more-than-adequate reserves has covered the deficit.
That’s the course of action Yorba Linda officials are taking in an attempt to eliminate deficits in citywide assessment districts for street lighting and landscape maintenance.
Plan A, of course, was to ask property owners to boost arterial street lighting fees from $1.22 to $2.53 and arterial landscape maintenance fees from $46.07 to $88.47 per year, along with Consumer Price Index increases and added three percent hikes for 10 years.
That option failed miserably, defeated by a 75 percent mail-in “no” vote earlier this year. Even the Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District voted against the fee hike for 17 school parcels in the city, Superintendent Dennis Smith said.
The current $695,000 deficit is expected to rise to $894,000 by 2011-12, according to city figures. The 2008-09 arterial lighting and landscape budget was estimated at $2,205,870, including personnel, water, electric, contract maintenance and other expenses.
Costs for the citywide districts do not include expenses for the nine districts maintaining landscaping that benefits specific areas. Two are starting to face shortfalls and the other seven will experience deficits in seven years, a pre-election city brochure stated.
The city’s arterials include all or parts of Imperial Highway; Fairmont and Yorba Linda boulevards; Kellogg, Rose and Village Center drives; Buena Vista, Lakeview, La Palma and Valley View avenues; and Bastanchury, Esperanza and Richfield roads.
Immediate efforts to save money by reducing watering times won’t be enough to erase the current deficit, according to a report City Engineer Mark Stovall gave City Council members Tuesday night.
“Our goal is to reduce the watering costs 15 to 20 percent through fine tuning our irrigation controllers to optimize the watering cycle without damaging trees, shrubs and plants,” Stovall noted, estimating annual savings for arterial areas at $80,000.
Stovall stated the city would use a consultant to help prepare a comprehensive study that will outline additional efforts to eliminate the arterial district deficits and control costs in the local assessment zones.
The study will review budget balancing steps, such as “fine tuning” watering times, reducing tree trimming cycles, renovating landscape and irrigation to improve water efficiency and, “if necessary,” reducing maintenance district areas.
The city has held costs down by using long-term maintenance contracts, according to Stovall. He noted three of five contracts expire next year, which will have to be rebid, “and we anticipate that maintenance costs will rise significantly.”
A FINAL NOTE
Six miles of landscaped medians and rights-of-way have been added since a 1997 vote set current rates, and a plan to trim trees less often was reversed when costs actually went up.
So far, $200,000 from street lighting and energy funds and about $1.8 million from the city’s more-than-adequate reserves has covered the deficit.
posted by Jim Drummond at 12:00 PM
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