LAKEPORT, Calif. – Lakeport city officials have completed a tally of hundreds of protests lodged against proposed water and sewer rate hikes.
The Lakeport City Council held a public hearing required under the auspices of Proposition 218 on the proposed increases, which would double rates over the next five years, last Tuesday, as Lake County News has reported.
After hearing hours of input from unhappy city residents, the council decided to hold over its discussion to its next meeting.
As part of the Proposition 218 process – the 1996 voter initiative that governs how local governments can raise charges, taxes and fees – the city received approximately 818 protest ballots from the 2,430 affected parcels, for a 26-percent protest rate, according to Lakeport City Clerk Janel Chapman.
Of those 818 protests, 640 were valid, and 178 were invalid, for a 28-percent invalid rate, said Chapman.
Chapman said the invalid ballots included 138 that were duplicates, 27 that were from people outside of the city limits, five that had no address or parcel number, and a few stragglers with other issues, such as a listed address that didn’t exist.
If the city had received 1,216 protests – 50 percent plus one of the affected parcels – it wouldn’t have been able to proceed with considering the rate hikes, Chapman said.
Chapman said the last Proposition 218 hearing the city held was in response to the universal garbage service, which went into effect in January 2004. At that time, she said the city received few protests.
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