Issues Addressed In The Law Suit
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Water Fees & Prop 218 |
Electric Fees & Prop 26 |
City Charter Interpretation |
| Problem |
The City has violated State Proposition 218 and has illegally transferred water utility fees to the City General Fund to be used like, and commingled with taxes. |
The City continues to transfer electric utility fees to the General Fund to be used like, and commingled with taxes. The City Council has stolen the right to vote on taxes from the electorate. |
The City has been siphoning funds from its water and electric utility in violation of the City Charter and to the detriment of the utility’s infrastructure.
At the same time raising the fees saying the utilities need them to function. |
| Explanation |
State Proposition 218 mandates that water fees cannot be used to fund General Government. Collecting the fees in the name of the Water Utility and then transferring them to the General fund, makes the fees a hidden tax and in violation of State law. These transfers have covered the City’s budget short fall while ignoring the utility infrastructure and letting it deteriorate. |
The City of Glendale has circumvented a State Constitutional restriction for raising taxes.The Glendale City Council proceeded to raise electric rates (fees) that it collects from its citizens under the guise of needed infrastructure upgrades, maintenance, and repair.Then, only to turn around and transfer those fees from the utility to the General Fund to be used like taxes that would normally require a vote of the electorate. |
The City has been running a deficit each year in the General Fund and has been transferring utility fees to the General Fund to cover that deficit. In doing so, the City Council has strangled the Glendale Water and Electric utilities to the brink of insolvency. The utility fees are being used to cover deficits in the General Fund, most likely caused by sloppy budgeting by the City Council. |
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Solution |
The City reluctantly stopped the transfers in 2012 at the insistence of members of the Coalition. The Coalition has retained attorneys and is suing to have the fees of 2010 and 2011 returned from the General Fund to the water utility.(Statute of limitations only allows the returns to go as far back as 2010.)Through this lawsuit, The Glendale Coalition For Better Government is seeking the reimbursement of misappropriated funds, and their return to the Water Utility. | The Glendale Coalition For Better Government has retained attorneys and is suing to enforce the right of the people as guaranteed by the State Constitution to have a say in taxation.(The transfer of the utility fees as done to the General Fund is in fact a “hidden tax”.) | The Coalition has retained attorneys and is suing to stop the City from transferring “fees” collected for the electric utility to the General Fund to be used like taxes to cover a budget short fall.Through this lawsuit, The Glendale Coalition For Better Government will seek judicial injunction to enforce the plain meaning of the Glendale City Charter, protecting the viability of the Glendale Water and Electric utilities, stopping the siphoning of funds, and insure the utility fees are used legally and as intended. |
