Claremont Council Votes to Increase Landscape, Lighting Fee 2 Percent

A lenghty debate preceded the Claremont City Council's 3-2 vote to approve an engineer's report for the Landscape and Lighting District that called for a 2 percent increase to district fees in the city.

The LLD was approved by voters in 1990 to create and maintain all greenbelts, parks and light posts in the city. Before the current engineer's report called for a change to the fee, most citizes of Claremont paid $154.32 or more in LLD fees, depending on the size of their home.

Though the increase in fees for the city's residents was modest - the percentage increase equalled out to a $3.12 extra charge per assessment unit - several city council members protested the fees and the growth in in spending for the LLD.

"People are going through hard times," Mayor Pro Tem Opanyi Nasiali said.

Nasiali told a story of a woman he talked to during his campaign for city council who pleaded with him not to increase taxes after he was elected.

"She told me any increase that goes thorugh will result in the loss of her house," Nasiali said.

He then proposed a motion to pay for the increase for the time beign with money from the city's reserves.

Council Member Sam Pedroza opposed the motion and supported the move to increase the assessment fees.

"We have beautiful things in our town," Pedroza said. "My house is worth more beaue of this $157 assessment fee."

Nasiali also proposed that the council should continue exploring ways to reduce the expenses of the LLD.

Mayor Larry Schroeder explained that city has already tried to reduce these costs, and that the fee was their last resort to pay for LLD expenses.

"I don't mind paying taxes, it's just that I don't want someone deciding where my money goes," Schroeder said. "But I know that if we didn't have taxes, we wouldn't have government services."

He explained that if the council did not approve the increase, cuts would have to be made elsewhere in the budget.