Ranch Area Residents Approve Assessment
Tustin Ranch property owners have voted to keep paying a yearly lighting and landscaping assessment that was overturned by Proposition 218.
According to results announced at Monday’s City Council meeting, 78% of Tustin Ranch residents favor the tax.
“I don’t know what we would have been doing if that didn’t pass,” Councilman Thomas R. Saltarelli said. “I’m really pleased with that vote.”
About 4,300 ballots were mailed in late May to property owners of Tustin Ranch, bounded roughly by the Santa Ana Freeway on the south, Jamboree Road on the east and the city limits on the north and west.
More than 1,400 of the ballots were returned, said Tim D. Serlet, director of public works.
The ballot asked some single-family home owners whether they would be willing to pay about $50 a year for landscaping. Others were asked to pay $69 for landscaping and street-light maintenance.
Proposition 218, a statewide measure passed in November, requires property owners to approve assessments for services such as lighting and landscaping maintenance.
Tustin’s assessment will raise about $392,000 annually for the city, officials said.
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