New fee for city studies assailed
LAFCO orders exploration of benefits, liabilities of capital annexation for Arden Arcade.
By Ramon Coronado - Bee Staff Writer
Published 12:00 am PDT Thursday, September 13, 2007
Story appeared in CITY section, Page G3
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Advocates who want Arden Arcade turned into a city are crying foul over a recent requirement that they pay an extra $40,000 for an additional study.
"We don't believe in it. We don't accept it, but we have to pay for it," said Joel Archer, leader of the incorporation effort.
The additional fees are to pay for a study of the benefits and drawbacks of annexing Arden Arcade into the city of Sacramento.
The Arden Arcade committee is already struggling to make monthly payments on consultant studies of the environmental and fiscal impacts of incorporating the 13-square-mile area that is now being serviced by the county.
As Archer sees it, the Arden Arcade committee is being impeded by unfairly having the rules changed.
The Local Agency Formation Commission, which governs the incorporation process, has changed the payment rules since other cities formed, forcing the Arden Arcade committee to come up with money faster than other cityhood efforts.
LAFCO has threatened to shut down the studies, which began last month, if the Arden Arcade committee fails to keep the money flowing.
LAFCO officials have said they can't guarantee that the studies will be completed in time for the November 2008 election.
That posture is a departure from LAFCO's handling of the cityhood efforts of Citrus Heights, Elk Grove and Rancho Cordova, which were allowed to pay when the studies were done.
"It's not fair. We made our application. We were in the middle of a process, and to have your expectations change is tough to swallow," Archer said.
Peter Brundage, executive director of LAFCO, said the latest rule change last month was made after commission members recognized that annexation into the city of Sacramento was an option that had been overlooked.
"The commission can't approve annexation, but it can deny incorporation, making annexation an alternative," Brundage said.
"It is an option you have to consider in evaluating any given proposal. It is part of doing a thorough analysis," he said.
Archer claims that Sacramento annexation of Elk Grove could have been raised during that city's incorporation efforts, but it wasn't.
Brundage said the commission's makeup has changed since the Elk Grove cityhood effort.
"It wasn't an issue before because no one raised it in previous incorporations," Brundage said.
Raising the annexation issue were commissioners Rob Fong and Steve Cohn, who are also Sacramento City Council members, Brundage said.
The Sacramento City Council is considering annexation of Arden Arcade as part of its new general plan. It is also considering annexation of the Fruitridge area, Rosemont and the town of Freeport.
The decision to require regular payments to keep the incorporation studies going is a policy decision also made by members who were not on the commission during previous incorporations, Brundage said.
"It's a different commission," he said.
Although a monthly payment schedule has been set, the first deadline of July 1 and the second, Sept. 1, were not met.
The first payment of $33,000 eventually was paid, and most of the second payment was expected to be paid Tuesday, Archer said.
The Arden Arcade committee's total share is expected to be about $200,000.
"The weight is on our shoulders to raise the money and keep it coming," Archer said.
The next payment of $26,000 is due Oct.1.
About the writer:
The Bee's Ramon Coronado can be reached at (916) 321-1013 or
rcoronado@sacbee.com. Bee staff writer Ed Fletcher contributed to this report.
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