Cityhood aid questioned
Are cities' contributions to Arden Arcade's bid legal?
By Ed Fletcher - Bee Staff Writer
Suburban Sacramento cities have given at least $50,000 to the committee working to turn 13 square miles of unincorporated Sacramento County into the city of Arden Arcade.
Citrus Heights, Rancho Cordova, Elk Grove and Folsom all have chipped in.
Beyond contributing out of good will, some suburban city leaders say adding new cities within the county strengthens all of their hands when skirmishes arise with the region's dominant players.
"Sacramento city and Sacramento County do dominate the local politics. I have friends down there -- they are good people -- but the decisions they make are not always the best decisions for Citrus Heights," said Citrus Heights Mayor Jeff Slowey.
But some have questioned whether the cities' contributions are legal.
State law prohibits government entities from making gifts of public funds. Contributions must have some benefit to the government entity.
Rancho Cordova ($25,000) and Citrus Heights ($15,000) have given them most to date. Folsom and Elk Grove each gave $5,000.
Citrus Heights Councilwoman Jayna Karpinski-Costa said she doesn't see the benefit.
"I can't find anything good for the city of Citrus Heights when these cities incorporate," Karpinski-Costa said. "We need streets paved. We need street lights. We should not be giving money away. I do believe it's a gift of public funds."
Karpinski-Costa's fellow council member James Shelby said, "The more cities we have in the region, the more we benefit from a political perspective. (The contribution) will come back to us in changing the balance of power."
Regional boards dealing with air, water, waste, flood control, libraries, and transit issues are composed of elected leaders from throughout the region. The power once held by Sacramento city and county leaders has been watered down as new cities have been formed and the boards expanded.
With key local businesses slow to jump on the incorporation effort and new rules requiring the committee to pay more money upfront, contributions from local governments has become a key funding source for cityhood backers.
Karpinski-Costa, who was the lone voice against a July 19 vote to give $10,000 to the Arden Arcade committee, said the political benefit argument did not apply to the city's $25,000 contribution in 2001 to a failed effort to create the El Dorado County city of El Dorado Hills, since it involved a cityhood bid in a different county that wouldn't affect the balance of power among Sacramento governments.
Peter Detwiler, who teaches a graduate course on land-use policies at California State University, Sacramento, concedes he's not a lawyer, but said he has questions about the practice.
"Why isn't that a gift of public funds?" Detwiler asked. "It strikes me as a very curious way to spend local taxpayers dollars."
Elk Grove, Rancho Cordova and the failed El Dorado Hills effort all benefited from the generosity of nearby cities.
But state officials said they don't think the practice is common statewide.
"I find that kind of unusual. Most of them typically raise funds from the local community," said Bill Chiat, who heads the state association of Local Agency Formation Commissions -- the local bodies in charge of creating or changing political boundaries.
Since the incorporation committee won't release donor lists, it's impossible to say how the cities' contributions compare with checks written by Arden Arcade residents and business owners.
The committee's chairman, Joel Archer, has spoken in general terms about fundraising, but has declined to provide detailed records on committee income and expenditures.
There is disagreement over whether existing law requires or allows the the Local Agency Formation Commission, which controls the incorporation process, to collect information on incorporation committees' finances.
In February, the Arden Arcade group said it had collected $84,000 toward incorporation. But that money was spent on preliminary studies, paying professional signature gatherers, validating petition drive signatures and other expenses.
The group has since been struggling to keep up with payments needed to study the financial viability and the environmental impacts of the proposed city just east of Arden Fair mall.
One hundred Arden Arcade residents and business owners have helped fuel the effort, Archer said.
He added that some business owners are reluctant to donate and damage their relationship with Sacramento County.
The area's biggest business -- car dealers along Fulton Avenue -- have been slow to get onboard.
LAFCO has changed the rules since other cities formed -- forcing the Arden Arcade committee to raise more money and at a faster pace than earlier efforts.
LAFCO is requiring that the Arden Arcade committee make monthly payments in order to keep the fiscal and environmental studies going. Earlier efforts were allowed to pay up when the studies were done.
Archer and other committee members are continuing to make the rounds.
On Sept. 11, the Folsom City Council is scheduled to consider contributing another $10,000 to the effort.
Archer said outside cities may be aiding the effort, but Arden Arcade voters will ultimately decide on cityhood.
"People inside and outside believe that Arden Arcade should have that opportunity to choose its own destiny," said Archer.
