Council OKs Levies for Cutting Into City Streets

Eight months after agreeing to the controversial idea, the City Council voted Wednesday to collect fees from private developers, utility companies and some city departments whose work involves cutting into city streets.

With Mike Feuer and Mike Hernandez dissenting, the council voted 10-2 to approve the levies, which were strongly opposed by the utility companies and a builders’ association. Several council members reluctantly supported the plan, but only after lengthy debate.

Fees will be set on a sliding scale, with payment determined by the square footage of pavement cut and the sort of street involved.

Since the council agreed to the fee idea as a budget-balancing device last May, the city has lost about $7 million the assessment would have raised.

The fees are expected to generate about $16.4 million a year, to be used for street improvements and maintenance.

Council members argued about the fee--which mysteriously changed names in eight months from the “street deterioration” program to the “street restoration” program--because some lawmakers were concerned about whether street repairs would be done adequately and inspected properly.

Councilwoman Ruth Galanter said she was concerned about city departments paying the fees, but then being unable to afford other projects. She said there would be no way of knowing what these departments couldn’t afford.

“The more I listen to this, the more problems I have with it,” Galanter said.

But proponents, including Council members Cindy Miscikowski and Rita Walters, said the fees have been delayed too long and that they will help pay for repairs to badly damaged city streets. Miscikowski said she frequently hears from constituents about the ill repair and poor quality of city streets.

“You can tear a piece of fabric, you can repair it, but it’s never going to be as good as where that tear occurred,” Miscikowski said. “Street cuts--no matter how well they are done--shorten the life of the streets.”

A major street is expected to have a 25-year life span. A cut--for utilities, cable or other work--shortens that to 16.5 years. Lesser-used streets have a 35-year life span, which drops to 29 if cuts are made.

But opposition to the fees has come from utilities and private builders, who say the charges are burdensome and conflict with their contracts.

Southern California Gas Co. officials, who spoke before the council vote, said they should be exempt from the requirements. And a building industry official said there is no guarantee that the money will be used to pay for recent work, rather than repairing old cuts made by others.

The council will consider amendments to the proposed fee schedule next week. If the changes are adopted, the fee schedule would have to be approved by Mayor Richard Riordan before taking effect.