Fallbrook Could Support Cityhood, Backers Report

A citizens’ group in Fallbrook, eager to see the community embrace home rule, unveiled an economic study Friday that shows that the rural enclave has the financial fiber to incorporate as a self-sustaining city.

The fiscal analysis, sponsored by the Fallbrook Incorporation Study Committee, indicates that the town of nearly 26,000 could easily tackle the financial responsibilities of cityhood.

According to the inch-thick report completed by Christensen & Wallace, an Oceanside-based consulting firm, the community would collect nearly $6 million in tax revenue during its first year of operation, enough to leave a 15.53% surplus after funding nearly $5 million in municipal services.

Good News

That comes as good news to incorporation backers, who have long maintained that Fallbrook has the economic wherewithal to operate independently of the county.

“This study shows that the community could support itself well if it decides to go ahead and incorporate,” said Roy Hiscock, a cityhood backer. “We feel we could incorporate and provide the same level of services we have now and possibly be able to raise that level some.”

Hiscock said cityhood backers want to put the the issue before voters in June, 1988.

Fallbrook residents on four previous occasions have voted down incorporation efforts, most recently by a 4-1 margin in 1981. But cityhood supporters say the idea enjoys more favor now.

For starters, they contend residents of the community, nestled amid the avocado groves and gently rolling hills of inland North County, have grown restless with the idea of being ruled by a government based in San Diego, a one-hour trip by car.

In addition, they say, Fallbrook is being short-changed on county services, everything from law enforcement to maintenance of the area’s 115 miles of roads.

The chief gripe, however, revolves around growth. Cityhood backers say there is rising concern among residents that county officials are displaying a callous attitude toward land-use decisions affecting the Fallbrook’s bucolic ambiance.

“The natives are restless, which I think is probably helpful to our effort,” Hiscock said. “Many people feel the county has been unresponsive to the community’s needs.”

Although no organized opposition to incorporation has surfaced, several past foes of cityhood are keeping a wary eye. Opponents say cityhood is just the prescription for an avalanche growth.

Question Tax Base

In the past, cityhood foes have questioned the validity of economic studies indicating Fallbrook has the tax base to support a city. Opponents have said that Fallbrook, to support self rule, would be forced to lure new industry and big business into the area, a move that would ruin the area’s quiet, agrarian appeal.

With completion of the fiscal analysis, Hiscock said the study group will “now go into our second phase. We feel incorporation is financially possible, now the question is will incorporation be politically feasible. That’s the tougher of the two.”

On Monday, Hiscock and the others will present the report to trustees of the Fallbrook Public Utility District, the water agency that agreed last December to act as the sponsoring agency for the cityhood drive.

In becoming the so-called “lead agency” for the effort, officials with the utility district stipulated that incorporation backers get signatures of 25% of the community’s registered voters on a petition.

Hiscock said his group soon plans to begin the task of getting the more than 3,000 signatures needed by December. If the group fails to garner the required signatures, the water district would drop its application for incorporation.

Before the issue can go on the ballot, an independent fiscal analysis must be conducted by the Local Agency Formation Commission, the state agency that oversees incorporations. Hiscock said LAFCO must approve the incorporation effort, with a tentative hearing scheduled for December.

After that, the issue would go before the San Diego County Board of Supervisors, which would either set a cityhood election date or send the matter back to LAFCO for more analysis.

Incorporation backers are proposing that the city stretch over 41 square miles, from Camp Pendleton on the west to Interstate 15 on the east, and with Santa Margarita River on the north and California 76 on the south.