By Brittany Hanson/Garden Grove Journal
Stanton will not be putting a utility user fee increase on the November ballot, as the result of a unanimous vote at Tuesday’s special meeting of the city council.
Mayor Carol Warren cited a balanced budget as the result of intense negotiation with the Orange County Fire Authority and the Orange County Sherriff’s Department.
The fee increase was going to rise from the current 5 percent to 7.5 percent in order to create more revenue to specifically support the costs of public safety.
However, negotiations with OCSD and OCFA allowed the city to cut $4.3 million from the contract budgets.
“Stanton has cut its general fund $5,825,688 plus a loss of $11,100,000 to the state of California annually. Yet under this council’s leadership our community has a balanced budget with no bankruptcies in our future,” said Warren.
Originally this utility user fee was on the June ballot, but was rejected by the voters.
At last Tuesday’s regular city council meeting, member Brian Donahue voiced that he didn’t feel that voters would want to vote again on something that had already been defeated.
At this Tuesday’s meeting, Donahue said, “I agree with the mayor. I don’t think this is the thing to do . . .with what we’ve done it is going to move us forward in a positive sense . . . I’m very optimistic that we are going to move on.”
The main proponent of the November ballot vote, Mayor Pro Tem David Shawver, said that he now agreed that the utility user fees should stay as they are.
“This marks a first for cities in Orange County . . . this is the first time a protective service contract has been adjusted to help a local city,” said Shawver.
