Benefits
Chart
Benefits of
Annexation into the City of Santa Clarita
The City of Santa Clarita offers accessible
local government
- The City provides accessible government with
local representation. Five Councilmembers are elected at-large
so they all represent you. There is essentially one Councilmember
for every 34,000 residents. The County’s Fifth District
Supervisor (Mike Antonovich) represents nearly 2 million people
in twenty-three cities and portions of the City of Los Angeles.
- City Hall is open 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Mondays
through Thursdays, and 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Fridays. It is
a local phone call to City Hall. There is no need to drive to
County government offices in downtown Los Angeles for local civic
issues and services.
- All City Council and Planning Commission meetings
are conducted during the evening and are on live cable television.
The County Board of Supervisors and Planning Commission meet during
the day at the County offices in downtown Los Angeles.
Annexation will result in lower annual expenses
- Annexation to the City will result in lower annual
expenses due to the elimination of the County’s 5% utility
user tax on gas, electric, telephone, and cell phone bills saving
per household will average $200 annually:
| |
Current
Fees/Taxes |
City
Fees/Taxes |
|
Lower
Stonecrest |
Upper
Stonecrest |
Lower
Stonecrest |
Upper
Stonecrest |
| 5%
Utility Users Tax |
$200 |
$200
|
$0 |
$0 |
| Trash
Collection |
$264 |
$264 |
$195 |
$195 |
| Streetlight
District |
$5 |
$5 |
$50 |
$50 |
| Storm
Water |
$0 |
$0 |
$24 |
$24 |
| 3%
increase to $700 LMD cap1 |
N/A |
N/A |
$212 |
N/A |
| Total
Fees |
$469 |
$469 |
$290 |
$269 |
1
Inflation rates have averaged about 3% per year
2 First year of increase. The cap will increase an average
of 3% per year
(year 1 = $21, year 2 = $43, year 3 = $65, year 4 = $88, etc.)
The
City offers a higher standard of police protection / public safety
- More police
protection is provided in the City than in the County. The City
provides substantially more police officers 24 hours a day. The
following table compares the number of patrols provided by the
City and County and the square miles that each patrols:
| |
City |
County |
| Patrols
– day / evening |
17
/ 16 |
5
/ 5 |
| Special
Investigations/Services Deputies |
25 |
3 |
| Response
Times - Emergency |
5.5
minutes |
8.1
minutes |
- More police patrols results in faster response
times in the City.
- More police officers results in increased traffic
patrols. Traffic enforcement on County roads is provided by the
CHP. Typically, a single CHP officer is dedicated to traffic enforcement
for the entire region.
- The Santa Clarita Sheriff offers special programs
to help protect the City residence. An example of this is the
“Learn to Protect Yourself” meetings presently being
conducted in the City.
- The City has consistently been ranked as one
of the safest cities with over 100,000 population in the nation.
The City of Santa Clarita offers a higher
standard of public services
- Overall street maintenance is superior: potholes
are repaired and streets are resurfaced more frequently. City
residents can contact the City to discuss street repairs and maintenance.
- Residents receive improved, full service refuse
collection including, but not limited to, unlimited weekly recycling,
weekly yard trimmings recycling, on-call curbside used oil collection
and curbside Christmas tree recycling.
- The City’s storm water program provides
for street sweeping, catch basin cleaning on your street a minimum
of once a year, thereby reducing trash, debris, and potential
flooding in your neighborhood, and other programs to protect water
quality.
City / County
Comparison
| |
LA
County |
City
of Santa Clarita |
| Size |
Over
4,000 sq. mi. |
About
52 sq. mi. |
| Population |
Over
10 million |
About
176,000 |
| Budget |
About
$18 billion |
About
$160 million |
| Employees |
90,000-100,000 |
About
350 |
| Number
of elected officials who control my local government |
5 |
5 |
| Number
of elected officials I can vote for |
1 |
All
5 |
| Number
of residents each elected official represents |
About
2 million |
All
5 represent all 176,000 residents |
| Number
of elected local officials living in the Santa Clarita Valley |
0 |
All
5 |
| Number
of Planning Commissioners having to live in the Santa Clarita
Valley |
0 |
All
5 |
| Location
of where my elected officials meet |
Downtown
LA |
City
Hall |
| Length
of drive to attend a meeting of my elected officials or planning
commission |
Over
100 miles round trip |
19
miles round trip |
| Time
of day that my elected local officials meet |
9:30
a.m. |
6:00
p.m. |
| Amount
of taxes collected in the Santa Clarita Valley that are spent
in the Santa Clarita Valley |
Less
than 100% (more in taxes are paid out than received back in
services) |
100%
of taxes are spent locally |
| Number
of existing units approved and built in the Santa Clarita Valley |
About
69,000 |
About
7,000 |
| Units
approved to be built in the SCV |
Over
35,000 |
About
6,000 |
| Units
currently pending approval in the SCV |
About
15,000 |
About
2,000 |
| Percentage
of the number units built, approved, and pending in the SCV |
89% |
11% |
|
