What else happened at the Sebastopol City Council meeting this week?
What else happened at the Sebastopol City Council meeting this week?
Council raises water and sewer rates, hears a report from the Library Ad Hoc, and decides to reinterview four possible replacements for city attorney Larry McLaughlin
All members of the city council were present for the June 18 city council meeting, including Mayor Diana Rich, Vice Mayor Stephen Zollman, Councilmember Sandra Maurer, Councilmember Jill McLewis, and Councilmember Neysa Hinton.
Final vote on water and sewer rates
In addition to resuscitating Gravenstein Commons, the Sebastopol City Council made one other momentous decision at the June 18 city council meeting—they raised the water and sewer rates by 33% for the average residential customer and by 35% for the average commercial customer.
The rate hikes were steeper for other rate payers—especially those that use a lot of water. The rate hike for one downtown commercial building, which houses a cafe, a spa, and a hair salon among other businesses, is expected to go up by 65%.
These rate hikes are based on a new rate study by city consultant, Raftelis. They are designed to put the city’s two enterprise funds (water and sewer) back on a firm financial footing. Revenue from ratepayers for both water and wastewater hasn’t been enough to cover expenses since 2019-2020, depleting the funds’ reserves and, in the case of wastewater, requiring infusions of cash from the city’s General Fund. This year, the city had to subsidize the wastewater fund by $1.1 million.
There were grumbles that the public didn’t have enough notice about this rate hike, but in fact it had been discussed ad nauseum at five council meetings. (Not to mention written about exhaustively in the Sebastopol Times—see the full list of related articles at the bottom of this article.)
Nary a soul in a long line of public commenters supported this rate hike.
You can read the final rate study, which the council adopted and approved on a 3 to 2 vote, with Mayor Rich, Vice Mayor Zollman and Councilmember Hinton voting in favor, and Councilmembers Maurer and McLewis voting against.
Library Ad Hoc report
The city council accepted a report from the Library Ad Hoc Committee. In accordance with the staff report, they dissolved the current Library Ad Hoc and created a new one to research and provide recommendations on funding sources that might be available to help create a new library for Sebastopol.
The staff report on the Library Ad Hoc described these sources this way:
1. Enhanced Infrastructure Financing District (EIFD): Tax increment financing (TIF) works by freezing the property tax revenues that flow from a designated project area to the city, county, and other taxing entities at the “base level” in the current year. Additional tax revenue in future years (the “increment”) is diverted into a separate pool of money, which can be used either to pay for improvements directly or to pay back bonds issued against the anticipated TIF revenue.
2. Sonoma County Library "Measure Y" Sales Tax: In November 2016, 72 percent of Sonoma County voters approved Measure Y, a one-eighth of a cent sales tax to support the 14-branch Sonoma County Library system. The funds are being used to: Increase hours; Increase access; Expand collections; Expand programs and services; and Maintain library facilities.
3. Development Contributions and Planning Agreements: Local government areas experiencing significant population change as a result of new development can negotiate contributions from developers towards the cost of providing community facilities, such as libraries.
4. Government Debt Issuance and Public Fund Investments: Public agencies have a number of options when financing capital improvements and managing their cash flow, including relying on existing resources or operational surpluses. In some cases, and under certain conditions, debt financing is both the most economical and sensible means of financing both short-term and long-term purposes.
5. Co-located Libraries: Sharing the cost between a range of community services can assist in the funding of library projects. Some possibilities include classroom and training facilities for programs providing services to our older citizens, crisis response and community resilience, social services, city council meetings, and ......
6. Joint Use libraries: This approach involves the development of a shared public library service between two or more distinct service providers, with funding provided by local government in addition to the joint service provider. Funding is being sourced from different authorities, and the development of detailed agreements on the joint use library service must be undertaken. (Also see the examples in #5, above)
7. Commercial Development Opportunities: Local government has the capacity to utilize its resources for community benefit. This may involve using existing resources more effectively or in a more commercial manner to achieve financial returns. When considering any of these approaches it is important to have specialist cost and financial planning advice and/or develop a business plan, and more.
8. Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs): PPPs are collaborations between the City and a private enterprise that can be used to finance, build, and operate projects.
9. State and Federal Government Grants: Through agencies such as such as Institute of Museum and Library Services, FEMA, The California State Library and the like. Provide some assistance in grant identification, application support, and training. State and federal grants provide support for a particular purpose including smart city projects, research, or strategic development.
10. Philanthropic Foundation Grants: Certain non-profit organizations and foundations provide grant funding to support Smart City initiatives including New America, the Kaiser Foundation, the Kaufman Foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, the Knight Foundation, Arnold Foundation, and others.
Vice Mayor Zollman was tapped again as the city council representative to the new Library Ad Hoc. Read the full Library Ad Hoc Report.
Other items on the agenda
EIFD consultant hired. As a part of the consent calendar, the council awarded an Enhanced Infrastructure Finance District (EIFD) contract to consultant, Kosmont Companies, for $50,000. The cost of this will be picked up by the County of Sonoma. There will be no city funds expended for this contract.
Lighting District Assessment approved. The council also unanimously adopted a resolution approving the annual Engineer’s Report, authorizing the levy of annual assessments for 2024-25 for the City of Sebastopol Street Lighting Special Assessment District. The annual assessment for a single family home is $32.
City attorney search continues. The city council interviewed four firms at the beginning of June in their search for someone (more likely some law firm) to replace City Attorney Larry McLaughlin, who is retiring on June 30. They decided to interview all four again. See the initial interviews here.
Watch the full city council meeting here. The next Sebastopol City Council meeting is July 2 at 6 pm at Sebastopol Youth Annex, 425 Morris St., Sebastopol.
BACKGROUND: Sebastopol Times coverage of water and sewer rate hikes
Water and sewer rates in Sebastopol may go way up in 2024 (OCT 10, 2023)
Down the tubes, Part 1: Council votes to raise water and sewer revenues by 50% (MAY 01, 2024)
Council reconsiders water and sewer rate increases (MAY 23, 2024)
City Council Recap: Council pursues smaller water and sewer increases (JUN 06, 2024)