Culver City Kills Assessment Plan

The City Council of Culver City has bowed to public pressure and rejected a plan that could have resulted in an average charge of $163 per year per homeowner for services such as street sweeping and lighting and park maintenance.

Twenty-four residents spoke against the proposed maintenance fee assessment district at a public hearing attended by about 150 people, according to Roger Mansfield, assistant chief administrative officer. No one spoke in favor of it.

The council voted 3 to 2 to scrap the proposed district. Mayor Richard Brundo and Councilmen Paul A. Jacobs and Paul A. Netzel voted against the plan, while Councilwoman Jozelle Smith and Councilman Richard M. Alexander voted in favor it.

Jacobs said he voted against the maintenance fee, which would not have been levied until next year, because it became clear at the hearing that people did not understand the need for it.

“There’s no question in my mind that an assessment district should be formed,” he said. “But it’s also important that there should be some understanding of that need” by the community.

Alexander said that without added revenue the city may have to cut services next year.

“We need some way to collect more money to maintain the level of service that we have right now,” he said, adding that the city will probably spend more money than it collects next year.

“It’s extremely difficult to convince people that we are anticipating a problem,” he said.

Jacobs said the decision to drop the proposed district may result in personnel cuts next year.

The city balanced its $44-million budget without firing employees this year by taking $2 million from its reserve and capital improvement funds.

Services such as street sweeping and street landscaping and lighting, and park maintenance cost the city more than $3.5 million last year, according to Mansfield.

Alexander said the council would have lowered property taxes to lessen the burden on homeowners if the district had been established.

Among the residents who spoke against the plan at the Monday hearing was former Culver City Mayor Jim Boulgarides, who said many residents feared that establishing the fee would have been like “handing the council a blank check. . . . “

Instead of levying fees, the council should look for more ways to cut costs and encourage employees to work harder, he said.

“We just have to get a little more productive and figure out better ways to live within our means.”