Sacramento City Council Staff Prepares Bogus Report to Support Fee Hike. The Sacramento City Council recently voted to add a $24 processing "fee" to all new or changed utility accounts in the city, with supporters of the exaction pointing to a city report claiming that other cities in California charge a similar amount. The Sacramento Bee investigated and discovered that the report, prepared by city staff, is full of bogus information.
The Bee found that "three of the five localities listed … as charging processing fees for new or altered accounts actually charge fees much less than those listed by staff":
· The report said that Roseville charges a $75 fee for new or changed accounts. Not so. Roseville does not charge for new accounts, unless a customer wants the account activated on the same day the request is made, in which case a $25 charge is imposed.
· The report said that Anaheim charges a $40 processing fee. Nope. Anaheim officials told The Bee that they charge only $10 for new accounts. And that fee pays for a worker to go to the payer's home and manually turn on the power and water, as opposed to Sacramento's much larger exaction that is described as covering administrative costs only.
· The report said that Modesto charges a $24 processing fee. Wrong again. The city doesn't charge anything for new or changed accounts. It charges $4.35 for late payments.
Rather than apologize for the misinformation, the business services manager for the city Utilities Department defended the report. "While it may not have every detail, it provides council and the public a great base of knowledge," the manager said.
(Cal-Tax: Bravo to The Bee for fact-checking the city's report. People may disagree on whether or not the new exaction is needed, but there should be no disagreement that elected representatives should base their decisions on accurate information, not fiction. The staffers who prepared this report should be disciplined, if not simply fired, for undermining the council's ability to make informed decisions.) (Source: The Sacramento Bee, March 12.)
Cal-Taxletter, March 20, 2009
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