The city of Huntington Beach on Friday April 1, notified the attorneys of the Citizens Association of Sunset Beach that Huntington Beach wanted to extend a settlement offer.
The terms and conditions are as follows:
1. That the CASB dismiss the lawsuit;
2. The city of HB completes the annexation of Sunset Beach;
3. The city agrees to hold a citywide (all of Huntington Beach) election in November of 2012 on whether taxes are applied to the (former) Sunset Beach residents;
4. In the time period before the election, the city of Huntington Beach agrees not to impose its taxes on the (former) Sunset Beach residents, and the city will provide Sunset Beach with essential services, but, the city will reduce the amount of non-essential services, such as street-sweeping, etc., that Sunset Beach receives by the amount of the taxes it is not collecting (which it estimates to be about $200,000).
This offer by the city of Huntington Beach was not accepted by the Citizens Association of Sunset Beach.
Huntington Beach would have the entire voting population of Huntington Beach voting on this Sunset Beach issue—making Sunset Beach’s vote count less then one-half of 1 percent on an issue that affects Sunset Beach.
A counter offer has been suggested by the CASB of maintaining the injunction—halting the annexation—until a vote of Sunset Beach registered voters on the issue of taxation and annexation occurs.
It is not about the taxes that Huntington Beach will have to charge. Sunset Beach residents already pay a lot of taxes.
The issue is the annexation with taxes. This requires a vote, and the city of Huntington Beach and the OCLAFCO have denied Sunset Beach residents their right to vote.
If Huntington Beach were to annex Sunset Beach, Sunset Beach residents’ vote would be so diluted there would be virtually no say about any of the future decisions, or election of City Council representatives. The City Council is elected to serve at large in Huntington Beach. Each council member does not represent a specific district within the city. Thus, there would be no specific representative of Sunset Beach.
Lawsuit timing
As a result of the lawsuit filed by the CASB, the preliminary injunction remains in place, the further implementation of the annexation has been stopped. The following are a reminder of some important dates in the continued preparation for, and hearing of the lawsuit.
May 2—deadline for the city and the LAFCO to lodge the record with the court.
June 1—deadline for CASB to file our opening brief.
July 1—deadline for the city and the LAFCO to file their opposition briefs.
July 18—deadline for CASB to file our reply brief.
Aug. 8—hearing on the petition. The lawsuit could still be avoided if Huntington Beach would agree to hold an election, by Sunset Beach residents, regarding the annexation and taxation.
The HB City Council and administrators continue to spend city funds to fight Sunset Beach’s right to vote on these issues.
As a result, CASB is still in need of donations. Donations made to the CASB are used to fund the legal costs and to further clarify the legal issue of taxation without representation. Please help and give us your support.
Members of the CASB have dedicated themselves to having open communication with everyone we can reach. Those who contact us for more information at our Web site www.SaveSunsetBeach.org will receive a response.
We invite new members and supporters to join and /or make a donation. Anyone can be a member of the CASB. We are currently reducing the membership fee to $25. This barely covers the costs of providing mailed notices, updates, etc. and other printed materials. Membership applications have been mailed to all Sunset Beach property owners and registered voters several times.
The membership application can be downloaded from the Web site.
Jack Markovitz is a member of the Citizens Association of Sunset Beach.
