For the past year the Rossmoor Community Services District has been on a costly quest to obtain financial data from the county which it believes will show that Rossmoor is a “donor” unincorporated community, that the taxes Rossmoor pays to the county exceeds the costs of services received.
The county has said that such breakout data was not available as Rossmoor’s services were bundled with those of the other unincorporated communities they provide services to. That did not satisfy the Board. It insisted on the data and to that end retained a forensic CPA and a special outside attorney. The District has not revealed what the costs spent for these expensive consultants have been or how much they are projected to be.
The Board undertook this quest because it believes that being a donor would enhance its chances for obtaining so called “latent powers” from the county. This would involve the county transferring certain services and their funding now provided by the county to the RCSD.
The services RCSD has identified are animal control, law enforcement (sheriff) and trash collection. By obtaining these services, it reasons, Rossmoor would be a less desirable target for annexation by Los Alamitos. This fear of being annexed is a result of the OC Local Agency Formation Commission placing Rossmoor in the “sphere of influence” of Los Alamitos after the failed attempt at incorporation in 2008.
However, the reality is that annexation will never happen as long as the people of Rossmoor don’t want it because any such attempt would require approval by a majority vote of its residents, an unlikely happening.
Another reason touted to obtain latent powers is that the RCSD believes it could deliver those services better than the county. While that may be the case for animal control, it is not the case for sheriff services or trash collection. Even with animal control, it is not clear the District would be able to contract with the local Long Beach animal control agency. With respect to transferring sheriff services, that was tried unsuccessfully several years ago.
The county counsel’s position on this is that, by law, the county must provide the core law enforcement services to Rossmoor as they are doing now. Any additional services would have to be paid for by Rossmoor residents. A recent survey, requested by the RCSD, showed residents were overwhelmingly satisfied with the current level of sheriff services.
So why is the RCSD continuing to pursue this? The Board has not accepted the county counsel’s position and has now elevated this dispute by appealing to the state attorney general for an opinion in this matter. And the meter continues to tick.
Supervisor John Moorlach has expressed his opposition to granting latent powers, whether Rossmoor is a donor or not, because it is the county’s policy to divest their unincorporated areas. As he is chairman of the Board of Supervisors as well as a LAFCO Board member, it is very unlikely that a transfer of any county services will take place regardless of the attorney general’s opinion. This disagreement with Mr. Moorlach has unfortunately escalated and has become personal. Unkind words have been thrown out at some of the RCSD meetings. This is not conducive for maintaining good relations with the county.
It is time for the District to halt this futile pursuit and stop wasting the taxpayer’s money.
Erwin Anisman is a resident of Rossmoor.
