Oxnard committee advances landscape maintenance district assessments after debate over saving for 'projects' vs. maintenance

The City of Oxnard Finance and Governance Committee on May 13 voted 2-1 to recommend that the City Council start proceedings to levy assessments for the city's landscape maintenance districts for fiscal year 2025–26, approve a consolidated engineer's report and declare its intention to levy assessments, setting a public hearing for June 17, 2025.

The motion to forward the staff recommendation passed with Chair MacArthur and Committee member Rodriguez voting yes; Committee member Star voted no. Committee members debated technical and legal questions about when district costs should be treated as a multi-year project financed over installments versus regular maintenance funded from annual assessments.

Committee member Star pressed staff and legal counsel on the distinction in the Streets and Highways Code between improvements and maintenance and whether maintenance items may be included in multi-year installment funding. Director of Public Works Michael Wolfe told the committee that the code allows spreading an estimated cost "by an assessment ... collected in installments over a period not to exceed 5 years" when the cost "cannot be conveniently raised from a single annual assessment," and he read the relevant language from…