Council to Consider Citywide Assessment

The Thousand Oaks City Council on is scheduled today to consider a proposal by a residents’ committee to establish a new citywide system to charge residents for public lighting and landscaping.

Currently, about 30% of Thousand Oaks’ home and business owners are paying to maintain the majority of Thousand Oaks’ public shrubbery. Meanwhile, about 77% pay for all public lighting, according to the 18-member committee, which presented its recommendation to the City Council this month.

The proposal, to create citywide assessment districts for lighting and landscaping, would result in sharp cuts for those citizens--many of whom are now paying more than $140 a year.

But it would also result in new charges of about $24 to $28 a year for many residents who are currently paying nothing--some of whom have no public lighting or landscaping in their neighborhoods.

Anticipating objections from residents in areas with no public street lights or landscaping, the committee came up with a proposed tiered assessment system.

Under the system, everyone would pay a base amount to maintain street lights and shrubbery in the city’s gateways and main thoroughfares. However, only those who live in or own businesses in areas with public lighting or landscaping would pay an additional fee.

Apartment and condominium owners would pay less than owners of single-family residences, and businesses would pay fees depending on their size.

The assessment districts would help ease the burden on Thousand Oaks’ General Fund, which currently contributes about $1 million a year for lighting and landscaping, according to city officials.

Under the committee’s proposal, only 33% of the landscaping budget and none of the lighting costs would be paid for with General Fund money--an estimated annual savings to the city of $400,000 to $500,000.