City Officials Favor Park Assessment

A proposed park maintenance district will get a thumbs-up from the city next month when council members cast Garden Grove’s mail-in ballots in favor of the tax district.

City Council members said this week that they will vote in favor of the proposed district, which requires approval to comply with Proposition 218. As the second-largest property owner in Garden Grove, the city, redevelopment agency and housing authority together will cast more than 100 ballots in support of the proposed district.

Along with City Hall, about 33,000 other Garden Grove property owners have received ballots seeking approval to continue assessments for park maintenance. City officials said they would transfer about $700,000 from the existing lighting and landscaping district to the new entity. Property owners are the only residents able to vote in the mail-in election under the terms of the legislation.

The passage of Proposition 218 last year required that lighting and landscaping fees statewide be assessed separately. The combined district now collects about $1.7 million a year to pay for lighting and park maintenance.

Veteran tax fighter and Councilman Bob Dinsen and Councilman Ken Maddox voted against the transfer of funds.