Landscape, lighting bills coming due
Listed on this year’s property tax bills--scheduled to be mailed by the county beginning Oct. 15--should be an entry under “special assessment user fees” that details an amount charged to pay for this city’s landscaping, street lighting and traffic signal maintenance.
I say “should be” because last year--for the first time in Yorba Linda history--so many taxes and fees were listed that the county ran out of room and lumped some fees under “other services,” leaving taxpayers in the dark about exactly where the money went.
But this year’s bills to owners of the city’s 23,005 land parcels should have a line labeled “Lndscp & Ltg #1” showing the amount each owner will pay to maintain some 28 million square feet (about 640 acres or one square mile) of landscaping, 5,665 street lights and signals at 63 intersections.
The fees range from $57.98 and $75.29 for owners of 8,940 single-family residences, including condominiums (and a bit less for 591 apartment units and 288 mobile home park units) to $513.72 for the owners of 1,571 Vista del Verde residences.
The $57.98 fee includes $50.64 to pay for maintaining landscape medians and parkways on all or parts of 14 major (or arterial) streets, $6 for traffic signals and $1.34 for arterial street lighting. The $75.29 fee includes an added $17.31 for local street lights.
Owners of 9,456 single-family residences and 532 apartment units also pay into 21 local landscape zones, with fees from $97.06, $148.89 and $159.57 on the low end (somewhat less per apartment) to $375.18, $392.49 and $513.72 on the high end.
While most owners will pay 2.1 percent more this year due to a consumer price index increase, one landscape zone was divided into 16 smaller zones, so some owners will pay less than in past years, primarily due to longstanding protests from the 218-home Rancho Dominguez Community Association (summarized in a June 7 column).
President Judy Murray told me in an email her homeowner group “will have performed a public service as many parcel owners throughout the district who have been overcharged for years will see a decrease in their landscape assessment.”
However, she still criticizes the city’s assessment methods, saying, “I consider the maintenance of private property, some with no legal easement and of no particular benefit, a gift of public funds.” The association’s attorney, former Councilman John Gullixson, has sent the city a 50-page letter stating the group’s numerous objections.
The fees (also paid by owners of commercial and vacant parcels) are expected to bring in $5.5 million for the 2012-13 fiscal year. But even with a $1.1 million “general benefit contribution” from the city, nearly $1.5 million more will be needed to meet estimated expenses, with that cash coming from the city’s general fund revenues or reserves.
Interestingly, this year’s fees were adopted on a 3-0 City Council vote. Tom Lindsey, Mark Schwing and Jim Winder were recused due to a potential conflict of interest, but three voters were needed, so straws were drawn and Winder remained to cast a “yes” vote with John Anderson and Nancy Rikel.
I say “should be” because last year--for the first time in Yorba Linda history--so many taxes and fees were listed that the county ran out of room and lumped some fees under “other services,” leaving taxpayers in the dark about exactly where the money went.
But this year’s bills to owners of the city’s 23,005 land parcels should have a line labeled “Lndscp & Ltg #1” showing the amount each owner will pay to maintain some 28 million square feet (about 640 acres or one square mile) of landscaping, 5,665 street lights and signals at 63 intersections.
The fees range from $57.98 and $75.29 for owners of 8,940 single-family residences, including condominiums (and a bit less for 591 apartment units and 288 mobile home park units) to $513.72 for the owners of 1,571 Vista del Verde residences.
The $57.98 fee includes $50.64 to pay for maintaining landscape medians and parkways on all or parts of 14 major (or arterial) streets, $6 for traffic signals and $1.34 for arterial street lighting. The $75.29 fee includes an added $17.31 for local street lights.
Owners of 9,456 single-family residences and 532 apartment units also pay into 21 local landscape zones, with fees from $97.06, $148.89 and $159.57 on the low end (somewhat less per apartment) to $375.18, $392.49 and $513.72 on the high end.
While most owners will pay 2.1 percent more this year due to a consumer price index increase, one landscape zone was divided into 16 smaller zones, so some owners will pay less than in past years, primarily due to longstanding protests from the 218-home Rancho Dominguez Community Association (summarized in a June 7 column).
President Judy Murray told me in an email her homeowner group “will have performed a public service as many parcel owners throughout the district who have been overcharged for years will see a decrease in their landscape assessment.”
However, she still criticizes the city’s assessment methods, saying, “I consider the maintenance of private property, some with no legal easement and of no particular benefit, a gift of public funds.” The association’s attorney, former Councilman John Gullixson, has sent the city a 50-page letter stating the group’s numerous objections.
The fees (also paid by owners of commercial and vacant parcels) are expected to bring in $5.5 million for the 2012-13 fiscal year. But even with a $1.1 million “general benefit contribution” from the city, nearly $1.5 million more will be needed to meet estimated expenses, with that cash coming from the city’s general fund revenues or reserves.
Interestingly, this year’s fees were adopted on a 3-0 City Council vote. Tom Lindsey, Mark Schwing and Jim Winder were recused due to a potential conflict of interest, but three voters were needed, so straws were drawn and Winder remained to cast a “yes” vote with John Anderson and Nancy Rikel.
posted by Jim Drummond at 12:00 AM
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