More Yorba Linda turf areas won't be watered

The browning of Yorba Linda continues with the latest 5-0 City Council decision to turn off irrigation on 37 acres of turf maintained by the city's Landscape Maintenance Assessment District and other areas overseen by the Public Works Department.

Earlier council action turned off water for ornamental turf areas in street medians, and the new vote turns off water for turf areas in six local landscape and two arterial (major street) zones. Trees will continue to be watered.

The decision will help the city avoid some – but not all – of the Yorba Linda Water District's penalties for consuming too much water.

Another earlier decision to cut landscape irrigation from three to two days weekly will result in a reduction of about 23 percent in landscape district and public works areas, Public Works Director Mike Wolfe reported in his most recent conservation update.

The street median water reduction will save an added two percent for a total 25 percent cut, with the new turnoffs expected to help the city reach the state-mandated 36 percent level, Wolfe noted.

Turf areas maintained by the landscape district are subject to the turnoff unless they contain playground equipment. Turf maintained by the Parks and Recreation Department, including athletic fields, will continue to be watered twice-a-week under Stage 3 rules.

New local landscape zone turnoffs affect 15 acres in the East Lake area; five acres in the west part of Vista Del Verde; four acres near Yorba Linda Country Club; and two acres each

in the Hidden Hills, central part of Vista Del Verde and west part of Camino De Bryant areas.

New arterial zone turnoffs include two acres each in the northwest part of the city and the East Lake areas. Turnoffs also involve other areas less than an acre each.

Also affected are turf areas maintained by the Public Works Department, mostly drainage facilities along Avenida Rio Oro and Brookmont and Kingsbriar drives, excepting two areas with Parks and Recreation Department play equipment.

Water use from irrigation meters is limited to 115 units per monthly billing period, with penalties for excess use from $65 to $1,000 per meter, depending on the overage amount. One billing unit is 748 gallons.

“Even with the proposed reduction of water usage by 36 percent, there are approximately 180 irrigation meters within the city that will likely be subject to the administrative penalties,” noted Wolfe, who estimated penalties could reach $240,000 per year.

“We are working with a landscape architect to develop a plan to mitigate the city's exposure to penalties from the water district. The consultant's work will also include potential impacts to existing landscaping,” Wolfe added.

The council also voted 3-2 to use $79,700 in general fund reserves to re-route irrigation lines for some public street medians and street-adjacent locations in 12 arterial and local landscape zones to avoid excess water runoff. 

Upticks in property, sales tax collections show Yorba Linda economy continues improving

One important measure of the strength of the Yorba Linda economy is the revenue the city collects in taxes and fees, especially from property and sales taxes, which reflect the state of the real estate and retail sectors that are often key indicators of growth, stability or decline.

Happily, both of these income sources will be increasing for the next two years, according to projections presented in a recent report from Dave Christian, who serves in city government as treasurer, finance director and assistant city manager.

Property tax income – the city's largest source of general fund revenue at 48.7 percent for the fiscal year that began July 1 – is expected to increase 6.2 percent for 2015-16 and 3 percent for 2016-17, totaling $15.9 million and $16.4 million, respectively, over 2014-15's $15 million.

Due to the real estate recovery, the city “is beginning to see larger-than-normal increases as the result of Proposition 8, which has allowed assessed values to return to the levels they would have been prior to any downward reassessment adjustments,” Christian reported.

Also on an upswing are sales tax collections, the general fund's second largest source of revenue at 20.4 percent. The 2015-16 increase is expected to be 6.4 percent and the 2016-17 increase 4 percent, totaling $6.7 million and $6.9 million over 2014-15's $6.3 million.

“While this revenue has been slow to rebound during the recovery, forecasts now show larger growth partly due to increased spending and partly due to the addition of the Costco gas station,” Christian noted. The station opened in the middle of the 2014-15 fiscal year.

Another key revenue source, as the city continues a long transition from a semi-rural to a more suburban identity, is the 9.3 percent of revenues from building permits and plan checks.

This income is expected to jump 100 percent to $3 million in 2015-16 and decline 31.1 percent to $2.1 million in 2016-17, due to fluctuation in building activity.

“A significant portion of the activity now anticipated to occur in fiscal year 2015-16 was originally slated for fiscal year 2014-15 but was adjusted downward at the mid-year point due to delays with the builders,” Christian explained.

Franchise fees residents pay with cable TV, disposal and utility bills will be steady at about $2 million the next two years, down some from this year's $2.1 million. Business taxes will bring in $361,500 each year, up from this year's $345,000 but down from $431,000 in 2013-14.

Other estimated income for each of the next two years: recreation fees, $1.7-$1.8 million; interest income, $2 million; property transfer tax, $450,000; and motel-hotel tax, $405,000.

Black Gold Golf Club annual revenue is expected in the $6 million range the next two years, with expenses roughly $5.5 million, excluding capital costs and depreciation. The latter is a book entry of about $850,000 per year, not a cash outlay.

Upcoming action on Trueblood/Janeway house

Action to rehabilitate Yorba Linda's historic Trueblood/Janeway house might be on the horizon.

Fronting Lemon Drive just east of the post office and visible from Imperial Highway behind the city-owned railroad caboose near the Polly's Pies restaurant property, the two-story building was once home to early families and the popular Calico House fabric business.

But the now-boarded structure was caught up in state rules regarding dissolution of the city's Redevelopment Agency, ordered in 2012 as part of the termination of some 400 agencies statewide.

The 4801 Park Avenue property was acquired by the agency in 2010, and later that year the Yorba Linda Preservation Society was awarded “the opportunity to renovate the structure,” according to a report from Pam Stoker, the city's economic development manager.

Stoker noted the agency's assets “were constrained under state mandate” and “no action was allowed to be taken on agency-owned properties during the dissolution process,” so rehab was shelved until a Long Range Property Management Plan was adopted in 2014.

“One of several legal requirements...was to identify each of the former agency's land assets and prove the necessity for retaining the property or indicate the intent to liquidate each parcel,” Stoker stated.

Stoker noted the city can keep the property “provided the site is ultimately used for a related governmental purpose,” and she plans to plans to present “a menu of options that may be available” for the City Council to consider at an upcoming meeting.

Also upcoming:

--A linear park with about 7.5 acres of usable space to run along a three-quarter mile stretch of Gun Club Road from Yorba Linda Boulevard north to Bastanchury Road could be completed by the end of the year, according to an extension of an agreement recently council-approved.

The developer Toll Brothers is paying for the design and construction of the park, but the city will be responsible for ongoing maintenance that's expected to cost some $30,000 each year. Three prior extensions were granted for the park, with the current expiring Dec. 31.

The park will be limited to passive activities, such as walking and equestrian trails, along with a small parking lot and trail head area, since major piping from three water agencies run under the entire length of the property.

--Yorba Linda High School will have a full-time School Resource Officer from the county Sheriff's Department with the city and school district paying about $65,000 each for 10 months.

Previously, an officer split time between Esperanza and Yorba Linda high schools, but now Esperanza will have a full-time officer paid entirely by Anaheim.

--Work will begin under new annual contracts for county animal care services for $207,158; weed abatement for up to $26,500; and traffic signal maintenance and “as needed” repairs for up to $140,000 at 57 intersections.

Once controversial contract with sheriff's department becomes routine budget item

Just three years ago the chief controversy in Yorba Linda was the switch from the Brea Police Department to the Orange County Sheriff's Department for law enforcement services, with the debate generating widespread public input and embroiling two City Council election cycles.

Now, however, a contract amendment establishing service levels and costs for the fiscal year that began July 1 has been handled as a routine adoption on the council's “consent calendar,” which grouped seven separate items for a single vote on a June meeting agenda.

Both costs and service levels will increase in the amendment running through June 30, 2016, for an overall 4.5 percent or $405,719 boost to $9,426,452 that funds current services with an added mounted unit to assist with various events and an investigator to help with case loads.

The new positions will be filled by retired personnel with reserve status and paid for hours worked with no overhead, costing less than full-time positions and perhaps reducing overtime earned by regular employees, according to a report from Finance Director Dave Christian.

Most of the cost increase, 3.2 percent or $284,729, is due to salary boosts granted after negotiations with the union representing deputies. The city hired the department in July 2012 under an agreement that runs through June 2018. Actual services began in January 2013.

Some interesting aspects of the 12-page amendment, the sixth to be added to the original document:

--Serving the city are 39 full-time, two half-time and small percentages of 13.5 regional and shared staff officers. The full-timers include 21 deputies in patrol services and three on motorcycles for traffic services.

--Investigation services include three investigators, an investigative assistant and a half-time sergeant, while the community support unit includes a community service deputy, a school resource officer and a crime prevention specialist.

--Management and supervision include a lieutenant (police services chief), four patrol sergeants and a half-time administrative sergeant. Other full-time positions include an office specialist and two non-sworn community services officers for parking and traffic enforcement.

--The city will pay full costs for the acquisition, installation and maintenance of patrol video systems that are or will be mounted in patrol vehicles assigned to the city and contribute to a fund for replacements and upgrades to the systems.

--The increase in salaries is a 7.94 jump over the previous year, while overtime is expected to increase 1.23 percent to $468,057. Cost for benefits, including retirement, health, unemployment, workers' compensation and Medicare will increase 0.07 percent to $3,440,107.

--Cost to field each of the 21 deputies assigned to patrol services, including salary, benefits and overhead, is $222,938, and cost to field each of the three deputies assigned to motorcycles is $228,121.  

Placentia-Yorba Linda teacher pay hits historic point as veterans earn $100,000-plus salary

An historic teacher pay point has been reached in the Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District with unanimous approval of a 5.5 percent salary increase beginning with the 2015-16 school year by the district's five elected trustees.

For the first time, regular pay for 30-year teachers passes the $100,000 mark – $102,773 to be exact. Pay for a beginning teacher with a full California credential, normally earned in five years, reaches a new high of $49,649 for 185 service days that include 180 instructional days.

And the possibility exists for an added 0.5 percent hike, depending on specific aspects of final state budget support for K-12 education, for a total 6 percent boost. The increase applies to all employees, 1,088 teachers, 664 classified staff and 170 managers (full-time equivalents).

Of course, a few teachers already have earned more than $100,000, when various extra duty assignments, such as coaching athletic or academic teams, serving as department chairs or lead teachers, participating on committees or other work has been added to their regular pay.

But now, the salary schedule, with 17 steps for service years and five columns for education levels, passes the $100,000 mark for 30-year teachers with a bachelor's degree plus 60 units, including a master's degree, or a master's degree plus 15 units or a bachelor's degree plus 75 units approved by a district committee.

First-year teachers with full California credentials usually join the salary schedule at the third column and can move to the fourth with a master's degree or 45 units past a bachelor's degree and then to the fifth after reaching one of the education levels described above.

Also, teachers advance on the salary schedule each year up to 13 years with additional steps at years 17, 21, 25 and 30. Step advancements bring from $2,300 to $2,800 more pay and column changes bring from $2,500 to $5,800 more pay, exclusive of other negotiated hikes.

Teachers with an earned doctorate from an accredited institution are paid an extra $1,500 per year, and teachers who volunteer to teach an extra period during the school day boost their regular salary by one-sixth at high schools and one-seventh at middle schools.

The 5.5 percent increase brings classified salaries up to a range starting at $12.51 per hour for a first-year child care aide to a high of $42.99 per hour for a senior program analyst or computer systems trainer with five years or more experience.

Principal salaries increase to $121,080 at elementary schools, $123,553 at middle schools and $141,330 at high schools for administrators with five years or more experience.

The contracts negotiated with the employee unions are for two years, but salary sections are expected to be negotiated again for the 2016-17 school year.

Salaries and benefits account for 83 percent of $240 million expenses for the district with 25,000 students at 34 campuses.