Santa Maria Council Agrees to Limited Fee Hikes, Sets Goal to Recover 100% of Costs for Services
A screenshot of the Santa Maria City Council during Tuesday’s meeting shows Mayor Alice Patino, center, along with Councilwoman Gloria Soto, left, and Councilman Mike Cordero, right. Not pictured since they were sitting off the dais because of social distancing are Councilwoman Etta Waterfield and Councilman Carlos Escobedo. By Janene Scully, Noozhawk North County Editor | @JaneneScully
April 22, 2021
| 9:50 p.m.
Faced with a proposal to implement huge hikes in user fees, the Santa Maria City Council on Tuesday balked and instead favored lower and slower increases to cover the costs of providing services.
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“We have identified the full business cost of providing service to your customers,” Johnson said. As a business, you will not stay in business very long if you don’t know this information.
In some instances, the city may choose to subsidize services, such as recreation programs, while seeking full recovery of costs of others, such as for development, he added.
“These costs are occurring; the question now is who’s going to pay for these services the person receiving the services or the taxpayer. These are your only options,” Johnson said.
Laurie Tamura from Urban Planning Concepts expressed concern about possible fee hikes, noting that the City Council previously chose to keep fees low to foster development, which would benefit city coffers eventually.
Creating a long-sought secondary access to the Elks Unocal Event Center took another step forward this week with an Orcutt Community Plan amendment to include the new section of road in its Transportation section text and circulation map.
Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the amendment, as recommended by the Planning Commission in October, at its meeting Tuesday.
Not including the unknown cost of acquiring rights of way, the project is currently estimated at $5.51 million, including $3.8 million in construction costs alone, and those figures are likely to rise before work is completed.
The roadway is widely supported by residents in Orcutt and Santa Maria as well as Santa Maria Elks Recreation Inc. and Santa Maria Joint Union High School District trustees.
By Janene Scully, Noozhawk North County Editor | @JaneneScully
December 16, 2020
| 7:44 p.m.
A proposal to extend a frontage road to connect with Union Valley Parkway improving access and safety near the Santa Maria rodeo grounds and a new high school facility received one more green light on Tuesday.
The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors unanimously supported the project, which would involve amending the Orcutt Community Plan to include the extension and approving environmental aspects.
“I would just say that this project has been a really long time coming, and there’s a lot of good safety benefits to it,” Fourth District Supervisor Peter Adam said.