THROUGH MY EYES -- RON DAVIS

Huntington Beach may be getting a clean bill of health on the three

years of raw sewage that leaked into the ground, but we stink in some

another significant area.

At the last Huntington Beach City Council meeting, I heard a council

member deploring the city’s financial condition. We didn’t repair the

sewers because we didn’t have the money. We can’t repair the

infrastructure because we don’t have the money. We’ll be cutting services

to the citizens because we won’t have the money. In short, Huntington

Beach’s financial situation is in the sewer.

At the same meeting, I heard the council propose increasing the

existing fees the residents pay and imposing new fees. The council

anticipates placing a bond measure on the March ballot asking us to

further tax ourselves. I don’t know which to hold -- my nose or my

wallet.

But I can’t entirely blame the City Council for our financial plight.

They just can’t print money.

If your checks are bouncing at home, you can look at what you’re

writing your checks for, but the most likely explanation for your

financial condition is lacking revenue.

When it comes to generating revenue, other than on the backs of the

taxpayer, Huntington Beach stinks.

Lots of people don’t see the significance of sales tax revenue. They

see it as merely another tax. But, it’s a discretionary tax. One that is

only imposed when we buy something. And the city where you buy that

something, gets some of the tax, and we get none of the tax. So, when you

buy something in Costa Mesa or Fountain Valley, you’re helping those

cities and not Huntington Beach.

Fountain Valley generates about 40% per resident more sales tax than

Huntington Beach. Costa Mesa generates about 150% per resident more than

Huntington Beach. Folks, these are big dollars. If we generated the same

per resident sales tax as Fountain Valley, we wouldn’t need a sewer fee.

In essence, those who shop in Fountain Valley pay for the sewers in that

community and we pay for our own.

It’s tempting to blame the City Council for this condition, but that

isn’t entirely fair. Every time they consider approving a project that

generates sales tax, our community opposes it or fails to support it.

With every project there is both gain and pain. We might gain some sales

tax revenue while at the same time creating pain in the affected

neighborhood. On the other hand, if we preserve the neighborhood, the

city (that’s all of us) suffers the pain of writing checks to support

government. These aren’t easy decisions because our community is so

built-out.

Consider the problem this way. A family with a 40-acre farm, might be

able to live and work the farm to make a living. But, if they bring in

friends to live on the farm with them, each acre of ground used to

provide housing for the friends and family is one less acre that can be

farmed and increases the demand for services. That’s exactly what we’ve

done in Huntington Beach.

We have a disproportionate amount of residential to

commercial/industrial, resulting in a greater number of citizens making

demands on government without enough commercial space to farm to fund

these demands.

As a community, we need to decide what we’re about. Either we decide

to develop and redevelop our existing commercial properties in such a way

as to attract shoppers and tourists from neighboring cities and generate

revenue -- and that’ll create some pain -- or we decide we like the

status quo, which includes writing checks to government. * RON DAVIS is a

private attorney who lives in Huntington Beach. He can be reached by

e-mail at o7 [email protected]