SAN FERNANDO : Levies to Continue for Street Lighting

Despite objections from a handful of residents, the San Fernando City Council voted to continue tacking annual user fees on property tax bills to pay for the cost of operating 1,600 street lights in the city.

Residents who spoke during a hearing Monday charged that the method used to calculate the fees for property owners in the city’s Landscaping and Lighting Assessment District was unfair. For example, a property owner with a 50-foot-wide lot pays $26.06 while the owner of a corner lot measuring 50 feet by 148 feet pays $103.21 annually.

“I don’t think it’s fair for some people to pay more money than other people when they all use the light,” said Rafael Torres, a Harps Street resident.

Salvador Ponce, a Kalisher Street resident, said the slight increase in this year’s annual assessment “should be equally spread among everybody. We should all carry the load.”

The council agreed to study changing the method used to calculate the fees, which is based on the amount of property that fronts city streets and whether property is zoned residential, commercial or industrial. However, it will not be done in time to affect this year’s levy on bills due in August.

“All the concerns and all the objections are valid,” Mayor Dan Acuna said. “We really need to take another look at it.”

The annual assessments within the street lighting district, formed in 1981, pay for the city’s $267,610 budget to operate and maintain all street lighting. The fees will increase slightly this year, ranging from $1 to $50 per property, city officials said.

In other action, the council, acting as the Public Finance Authority, authorized the issuance of $13 million in revenue bonds to pay for the city’s share to upgrade the Hyperion sewage treatment plant in Los Angeles. In June, the council voted to raise sewer and water rates to pay for additional sewer capacity and to upgrade its water distribution system.