The candidacy filing period opens Dec. 22 for two seats on the Arcadia City Council and for a newly configured city clerk's position. The terms for Sheng Chang and Mickey Segal will expire.
City Clerk June Alford will retire in April, 2004 with her elected successor being paid a $500 monthly stipend and only handling mostly ceremonial duties.
The City Council decided to ask voters to approve $8 million in bond funding for a bridge at Santa Anita Avenue. If 2/3 of voters support this bond, Arcadia would be the only city on the Gold Line extension route to finance its own grade separation.
The city council has decided to appropriate $35,000 toward the design of a light rail bridge over Santa Anita Avenue. This is to pay for early design work needed for an environmental impact report. The bridge project is expected to cost the city $10.7 million which may come from a bond. The Construction Authority would pay $18.4 million bringing total bridge cost to $29.1 million.
Arcadia City Council has voted to impose fees on developers to pay for intersection-widening projects. A chart shows the traffic count at developments, at intersections, and the fee structure.
Arcadia seeks to extend the right to collect cell phone usage tax. Officials plan to hold a special election in May or June in 2009 for a ballot measure. If communicated to voters correctly, it should pass, because it would not raise the tax but protect the city's revenues. At stake is about $1 million in yearly revenue. To do that, voters must allow the city to legally redefine what a telecommunications tax is. Recent court rulings have suggested cities cannot tax cell phone use by relying on older telecommunications tax ordinances.
City Manager Bill Kelly outlined his proposed budget for the 2003-2004 fiscal year which begins July 1. The Arcadia City Council will hold a public hearing and is scheduled to adopt it at its June 17 meeting.
The city is asking residents to vote by mail by July 15 on a plan that would change the way the city splits the cost of street lighting. The city expects street lighting to cost about $1.15 million next year. Single-family homes on lighted streets would pay the most, $25.70 a year. Under the proposal, the assessments would no longer be tied to the value of a home but rather to the benefits that residents receive from street lights. If voters reject the plan, the current lighting assessment districts will expire in 2010. If that happens, the city will be responsible for paying the entire costs of street lighting.
The Arcadia City Council has approved a $46 million budget for fiscal year 2009-2010. The city made deep budget cuts across the board, including freezing positions and cutting employee travel. The budget includes roughly $2 million in cuts and concessions from all four city employees' unions, and projects about $45.1 million in estimated total revenues, $45.7 million in proposed expenditures, and $270,000 in employee compensation and benefit deferrals.
Arcadia voters have approved ballot Measure A with 2091 people voting yes and 643 voting no. The measure protects the city's right to collect taxes on cell phone use. Measure A will not raise taxes.