NOTE: The City of Anaheim has two primary decision making bodies, the City Council and Planning Commission. Anaheim 2060 will review the agenda for each Council and Commission meeting and discuss any issues that either support or oppose the goals of Anaheim 2060.
There are two items on this week’s City Council agenda that are worth discussing. The first is a grant request to help fund the construction of a new part and the second is an increase in electric rates charged by the Anaheim Public Utilities Commission.
Item #23 – Miraloma Park Grant Application
There is a lack of easy access to parks in much of Anaheim. The City’s Community Development Department is applying for a grant under the Statewide Park Development and Community Revitalization Grant Program. This grant, if awarded, will work in conjunction with a Section 108 loan the city has applied for to the Department of Housing and Urban Development. (I’ll be talking more about the Section 108 loan in a future post.) This application is just one example of the many ways Anaheim is finding to fund the improvement of resident’s quality of life without over exerting the City’s general fund.
Item #29 – Anaheim Public Utility Rate Adjustment
The penultimate item on this week’s consent calendar is a modification in the rate structure for Anaheim Public Utilities. There are actually a couple of points related to this agenda item that are worth noting. First, the Anaheim Public Utilities Board is the best example of an advisory board that engages the public in Anaheim. In a future post, we’ll be looking more closely as to why that might be the case and what the City can do to improve the other boards and commissions.
Secondly, this rate adjustment is needed to ensure the City maintains its electric infrastructure. Too often, cities let their infrastructure degrade in order to keep fees, rates and taxes low. This rate adjustment will ensure the Anaheim Public Utilities basic rates cover the cost of maintaining the quality electric infrastructure we have today.
Finally, the Public Utilities Board is requesting the City reinstate the Economic Development and Business Retention Rate, which had previously expired in 2008. This rate is just one way to encourage businesses to move to or start up in Anaheim. This is just one way the City can encourage a diversification in its economic base.
One final item simply of interest. In the staff report for an amendment to the Neighborhood Stabilization Program policy guidelines, they state that many homes are selling for above their appraised value. This is a good thing for the City’s economy and our property values. Appraisals are lagging indicators, meaning that they reflect what the value of the property was, not what it currently is. This is because appraisals rely upon the value of recently past sales of comparable properties. If houses are selling above their appraised values, that means the value of the homes is higher today than it was just a couple of months ago. With any luck, we’ve hit the bottom of this market and are now starting to rebound.
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