A 3.121 percent increase is likely coming to those who own property in most areas of Ceres who are in the city’s Landscaping & Lighting District.
The assessment pays for street lighting and maintenance of common landscaping areas, such as medians and along sound walls.
Last week the council approved its intentions to increase the amount charged on property tax bills.
The total budget is $659,397 with $527,597 in revenue projected for the district with the remainder of $131,799 covered by the General Fund. But City Engineer Mike Beltran said the supplement was not approved in the budget so that means services get reduced
Specifically about $140,000 is spent on lighting in all the landscape and lighting districts and $250,000 in staff costs and about $90,000 in contracts.
When Councilwoman Cerina Otero suggested the council had the option of not increasing the assessments, Beltran said “it’s definitely not recommended simply because we need to keep pace with increases on those contracts, increases in staff wages, increases in electricity.”
State law allows up to a five percent increase.
Otero said increases are “something that’s been happening for years, but with the collection of the levees, we have to ensure that our city is maintained efficiently and currently, I don’t feel that that has taken place. I’ve had a lot of concerns about the landscape in general.”
Otero said she couldn’t support the increase but later did participate in a 5-0 vote.
“My neighbors are asking me, ‘Well, why am I contributing to something that I’m not receiving?’” said Councilwoman Rosalinda Vierra, who also noted the city’s General Fund cannot supplement the deficit.
When she asked Beltran about the feasibility of going with solar to curb the cost of electricity for lighting, he noted the investment would be significant and “probably not a feasible option for us to do that.”
Interim City Manager Steve Williams said the city’s long-term plan is to engage with a third party contractor for landscaping services but in the meantime city staff will be responsible for maintaining the areas.
Ceres resident Galen Guzman protested any increases, saying “You can’t be just like increasing taxes when the residents aren’t receiving the services.”
Guzman said he became upset when he was told he could not help the city with mowing grass in parks near his home which he wants to adopt because it was a liability.
“I’m willing to go out there at 6 a.m., 7 a.m., and take care of these parks,” Guzman said, “but instead, I’m being offered to pick up garbage with the garbage holder and bags will be providing. I’m looking to do a little bit more than that.”
Andres Ruiz, an educator who lives in the Eastgate community and noted park conditions are going downhill, told the council: “I’m almost embarrassed to say I live here.”
“Over the last 20 years that I’ve been there, we’ve probably got about half of the foliage that was there initially,” said Ruiz. “I’ve seen these workers with my own eyes, doing their job, instead of nurturing the plants and the foliage, they’d rather weed whack them down to nothing, so they don’t have to worry about it the next time. So there’s lots of areas there that are just barren. There is water that runs to those areas, but they’re not watering it.”
