Is city of Sacramento’s stormwater fee increase legal? What a judge ruled
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.
While the city did indeed conduct the measure that way, it 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 a 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.”
That distinction allowed the city to submit extra ballots for its properties but not give extra ballots to other property owners, such as Dessins LLC, which filed the 2022 lawsuit. 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.
“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 receive 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.
