Though simply naming the new city Arden might have brought everyone into the fold, the fact remains that the Arden Arcade incorporation is surely a win and will remove one large area from slowly sinking downward into what the Sacramento Bee has often described as a death spiral as the county continues to run more deficits that not and service suffers appropriately.
It is also the reason we have called for daily management of the Parkway to be contracted to a nonprofit organization, with the ability to raise funds and begin to restore and strengthen the Parkway from years of under-funding and ineffective management.
An excerpt.
Guest commentary: Cityhood is feasible for Arden Arcade
By Laura Lavallee - Published 12:00 am PDT Thursday, October 26, 2006
Sacramento County has reached the limit of its ability to protect and enhance the quality of life in Arden Arcade. Massive county budget deficits predicted in coming years will mean either fewer municipal services or tax increases by the county.
Cityhood will permit Arden Arcade residents and businesses to identify priorities and implement actions that can make our community thrive, while ensuring the local representation we must have as the region continues to grow.
• Cityhood will bring true local control and true local accountability: City government is closer to the people, more accessible, more responsive and provides better accountability to its citizens. Arden Arcade residents will elect a mayor and six City Council members who must live in our community and will make decisions that affect our quality of life. Each council member would represent about 13,000 people.
Our elected county supervisor represents about 270,000 people in a district that stretches from east Sacramento to the Carmichael-Fair Oaks border. Under the current government structure, four county supervisors who do not live in Arden Arcade make decisions for Arden Arcade, and they may place their loyalties with the people who elect them.
• Cityhood is financially feasible and will bring new funding to Arden Arcade without new taxes: The initial fiscal analysis prepared for the cityhood study team concluded that the city of Arden Arcade would be financially feasible. Some persons feel that since Arden Arcade is largely developed, we will have problems sustaining financial feasibility. One need only look at Citrus Heights, a built-out city of similar size that has a reserve fund of $33 million, to debunk this myth.
As a city, Arden Arcade will receive about $6 million per year of new revenue, which will come from a tax that residents pay when we register our cars and trucks. This money is currently distributed to other cities in California and is not available to Sacramento County government. If we do not become a city, these annual revenues will be lost. Legislation signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger last month allows Arden Arcade to receive these new revenues if it becomes a city before July 1, 2009.
• Cityhood does not mean increased taxes: According to John Coupal of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, "Incorporation does not automatically result in a tax increase for citizens of the new city unless the ballot measure forming the new city includes provision for new or increased taxes. Any new taxes or fees sought by the new city would have to be approved by those financially obligated to pay -- in this case, the citizens of the city of Arden Arcade. That being said, everyone should realize that the experience and commitment of the persons elected to the City Council is critical to safeguarding the interests of taxpayers." The petition being circulated by the Arden Arcade Incorporation Committee does not include any provision for new or increased taxes.
• Cityhood does not mean an additional layer of government: The new city would replace the county by providing efficient and effective municipal services tailored to Arden Arcade. The county would continue to perform the state-mandated services, such as health and welfare services and operation of the criminal justice and courts systems, which it currently provides to all residents of Sacramento, including those who live in the seven existing cities.
