Is city of Sacramento’s stormwater fee increase legal? What a judge ruled
.JPG "Rebecca Holsey, left, talks Monday, Oct. 25, 2021, about being rescued with a raft by the fire department Sunday nigh after heavy rains flooded Pell Drive in Sacramento. Her partner Keith Jensen, right, who was also rescued, still wears clothing showing the floodwater’s hight. Holsey said she considered escaping through the window of her RV before the rescue.")
The city of Sacramento did not violate a state law in its ballot measure to raise the stormwater fee in 2022, a judge has ruled.
A lawsuit filed in 2022 alleged the measure only passed because the city submitted ballots for each property it owns — more than 2,000 — while not giving the same privilege to private home and business owners who own multiple parcels.
But the city did not conduct the measure that way, and instead conducted it in a way that was allowed under state law, Sacramento Superior Judge Jennifer K. Rockwell wrote in a tentative ruling Nov. 29 that was finalized Dec. 22.
Under California’s Right to Vote on Taxes Act, there is no difference between the “property owner” and a “record owner,” stated Rockwell’s ruling.
The ruling states: According to the Act, the “record owner” is “the owner of a parcel whose name and address appears on the last equalized secured property tax assessment roll, or in the case of any public entity, the State of California, or the United States, means the representative of that public entity at the address of that entity known to the agency.”
Dessins LLC, which filed the 2022 lawsuit, alleged the city gave itself one ballot per parcel it owns, but did not do the same for private property owners. The limited liability company owns both a house and a building that was approved for a three-story senior living facility, both in East Sacramento, according to county records.
That allegation is not correct, as each property owner, including the city, received one vote per parcel, city spokesman Tim Swanson said Friday.
“The city appreciates the court’s ruling on this matter and its conclusion that the city acted lawfully,” Pravani Vandeyar, director of the city’s Department of Utilities, said in a statement. “The city’s Department of Utilities remains committed to maintaining our infrastructure and to protecting the health and safety of our communities.”
About 52% of property owners in the mail-in election approved a measure to increase the fee in 2022. It needed 50% of the vote plus one.
The city sent 130,071 ballots to the owners of 154,879 parcels that are receiving storm drainage services. The vote count was weighted by allotting one vote per parcel, Bill Busath, then-city Utilities Director, told the council in 2022. About 42,000 ballots were returned. The city increased the fee for most single-family homeowners by about $70 per year, from about $135 to $205 per year, based on the size of impervious surfaces. The increase is bringing in about $20 million in new revenue to the city to repair and improve the city’s 100-year-old stormwater system, according to the city.
The city is using the revenue to protect drinking water quality; keep chemicals, sewage and human waste out of rivers and creeks; prevent sewage and human waste from overflowing onto neighborhood streets; replace deteriorating pumps that prevent flooding; and repair aging water pipelines and infrastructure, a city web page said.
The city last increased the fee in 1996. The city has a program for property owners who are unable to afford the bill.
This story was originally published January 4, 2024 at 5:00 AM.
CORRECTION: The city of Sacramento conducted the ballot measure to raise stormwater fees in accordance with state law. California’s Right to Vote on Taxes Act does not distinguish between the “property owner” and a “record owner,” according to Sacramento Superior Judge Jennifer K. Rockwell’s ruling. An earlier version of the story misstated that the ruling asserted these were distinct entities and was unclear about what allegations were substantiated.
