The Seal Beach City Council on Monday, July 28, voted unanimously to put two measures on the November ballot.
One measure would convert the office of city clerk from an elected to an appointed position. The other would lower the city’s utility user tax from 11 percent to 10 percent, while ensuring fair and equal treatment of the telecommunications utilities (tax rates for internet and cable television are unaffected).
City Clerk
City Manager Jill Ingram said asking voters to consider changing the city clerk’s status was not a reflection on current City Clerk Linda Devine. According to the staff report by Jill Ingram, if the voters approve the conversion in November, Devine will remain city clerk until her term expires in 2016.
The council last discussed changing the status of the city clerk position during a February study session.
At the time, College Park East resident Campbell, who ran against current City Clerk Linda Devine in 2004, said an elected city clerk might not have the experience required. She said there could be training costs for an elected city clerk in addition to election costs.
“There is no anticipated fiscal impact to making the City Clerk an appointive position,” Ingram’s report said.
A sunnews.org poll found that 33 percent of respondents preferred an elected city clerk, 60 percent preferred an appointed city clerk and 7 percent had no opinion.
Utility Users Tax
During the budget process, Seal Beach staff recommended keeping the city’s 11 percent utility users tax.
“Over the years, the state has appropriated approximately $4,000,000 in revenues that would otherwise have gone to provide City services, such as fast 9-1-1 emergency response times by local firefighters and paramedics, and a variety of community services for families and seniors,” Ingram wrote in the staff report.
“The UUT, which is imposed on the use of certain utilities-including fuel, electricity, and telephone services remains one of the few sources of revenues left to the City to provide these and other vital services,” Ingram’s report said.
But staff recommended that the language of the UUT tax law be modernized. “Modernization of the UUT would clarify that it applies to all telecommunications, ensuring that all taxpayers are treated fairly regardless of the technology used,” the report said.
“While it is difficult to predict the precise impact of the proposed amendment to the City’s UUT on the City’s future revenue, staff anticipates that the loss of revenue from the decrease in the Telecommunications UUT rate would most likely be offset, in whole or in part, by the application of the tax to all telecommunications regardless of the technology used. However, with the reduction being extended to both gas and electric, the loss of revenue may be as high as $300,000,” the report said.
City Finance Director/Treasurer Victoria Beatley said the utility tax would not apply to the Internet.
