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Lafayette approves FY 2025–26 assessments for core and residential lighting districts
Summary
City council adopted two resolutions confirming engineer's reports and assessments for the core area landscape and lighting district and the residential lighting district for fiscal year 2025–26; no rate increases were proposed.
The Lafayette City Council on May 27 adopted two resolutions confirming the engineer's reports and levies for the fiscal year 2025–26 core area landscape and lighting district and the residential lighting district.
The council's action approved Resolution 2025-27, confirming the engineer's report and assessments for the core area landscape and lighting district (formed 1979) and Resolution 2025-28, confirming the engineer's report and assessments for the residential lighting district (also formed 1979). Francine, a city staff member who presented the item, told the council the assessed amounts have not increased since 1996 and that the annual approval is required before the assessments are collected on property tax bills.
The council received questions about how the districts are currently funded and whether the city subsidizes the difference between revenues and ongoing costs. Francine said the levies collected have remained essentially the same while the general fund and district fund balances cover shortfalls; she said part of the shortfall was previously covered with American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds and that the city is currently using a combination of the district fund balance and transfers from the general fund to cover the difference.
Council members asked whether the city had pursued a Proposition 218 ballot procedure to increase levies or add an escalator; Francine said the city had attempted such a change in the past (initial effort roughly a decade or more ago) but property-owner ballots produced objections and the measure failed. She noted property-owner ballots follow frontage-based voting rules and that failing to vote is counted as a no vote.
No public speakers signed up to speak on the two assessments. After a motion and second, the council adopted both resolutions; the meeting record shows the motions carried after members responded "Aye." Staff confirmed the district assessments will appear on property tax bills as part of the usual collection process.
Why it matters: The two special districts pay for lighting, landscape maintenance, graffiti removal and related services in defined areas; because the levies have not been adjusted in decades, the city is using other funds to maintain current service levels.
