San Clemente OKs Streets Assessment : Finance: Critics say general fund, not a tax, should pay for repairs to aging roads. Levy will cost households up to $90 annually.

Over objections from nearly two dozen angry residents, the City Council on Wednesday voted to assess homeowners up to $90 a year to repair the potholed and aging streets of San Clemente.

“I believe that we have talked about trying to repair these streets for far too long,” Councilman Steve Apodaca said. “I will not have my legacy be the continuation of the deterioration of our quality of life.”

While some residents agreed with him, others said the city should pay for the improvements from its general fund and not with a tax.

“Something is deadly wrong in this town,” said resident Betty Roberts. “You are in the process of passing assessment after assessment. I’m sorry I came here to retire.”

The vote creates an assessment district to raise $55 million for 18 years. The plan, which has come before the council three times in the past four years, is based on San Clemente’s need for a long-term source of money to pay for street repairs, city officials said. Of the 120 miles of public streets in the city, 60 miles are considered substandard because of decades of neglect and must be reconstructed, according to a city survey.

The remaining 60 miles need preventive maintenance or they could quickly fall into disrepair, said Michael L. Sorg, the city’s director of public works.

“You can put maintenance off for a while, but we have gone year after year, always with the hope of finding the funds for this,” Sorg said earlier this week.

Under the assessment district proposal, property owners would be placed in eight categories and could be required to pay from $18 to $90 a year for 18 years on their tax bills for the repairs. An owner of a single-family home on a public street would pay $90 a year, while the owner of a single family home on a private street would pay $18 annually.

Owners of apartment buildings would pay up to $72 a year for each unit.

The council assured the audience Wednesday that it is committed to eliminating the assessment district as soon as possible and to looking to ways to reduce it every year. The district has a maximum life span of 18 years under the plan.

The plan also calls for the city to hire a new staff member at a salary of $53,000 to coordinate street repairs, Sorg said.

Critics call it a hidden tax and another fee increase in a city that has seen its water, sewer, landscaping and lighting and trash fees increase during the past year. They say the street program should be payed for by the city.

A group of opponents seeking to put the issue on next March’s primary ballot for a citywide vote had until Wednesday night to produce about 6,000 signatures. They have about 4,000, spokesman John Koch said.

“The city would rather call it an assessment district, but it’s going to wind up on your tax bill, so I call it a tax,” Koch said earlier Wednesday. “I know the number of people who feel the way we do is phenomenal.”

Councilman Patrick M. Ahle, who cast the only vote against the assessment, agreed with Koch.

“I think the issue should go to the voters because it is a tax,” he said. “I don’t think a six-month delay [for a public vote] would have an effect on an 18-year program.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Road Repairs The money San Clemente hanentehas spent rehabilitating and reconstructing some of its 120 miles of city streets has risen 150% in the past five years. Yearly spending, not including regular street maintenance, in thousands: ‘94-’95: $2,000* * Projected Source: City of San Clemente