Culver City

The City Council has voted 3-2 against a proposal to create a street lighting and landscaping district.

The council majority said that the city could not find an equitable formula for refunding utility-user taxes to offset fees for street lights and landscaping. A plan devised by the city’s consultant to reduce utility taxes would have benefitted businesses at the expense of many residential customers, the council said.

Councilmen Paul Jacobs and Richard Brundo voted for the special district with the provision that the city find a new formula that would grant utility tax breaks equal to fees for the special district.

But Richard Alexander, Paul Netzel and Ronald Perkins said they wanted to end study of the proposal.

Culver City is nearing the state-mandated limit of tax money that it can spend each year. Taxes in excess of the spending limit must be returned to the state or taxpayers. The city is attempting to institute fees for services such as street lighting so it can continue to spend all of its tax money.