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Newark council adopts assessments for Landscaping and Lighting Districts 2 and 11 for FY2025
Summary
The Newark City Council adopted a resolution confirming diagrams and levying assessments for Landscaping and Lighting Districts 2 and 11 for fiscal year 2025, approving nearly $55,000 in levies; staff and a consultant clarified the lake is not funded by these districts and that capital lake work requires a separate Prop 218 process.
The Newark City Council on July 31 adopted a resolution confirming diagrams and levying assessments for Landscaping and Lighting Districts 2 and 11 for fiscal year 2025.
Management Analyst Brett Overndyke told the council that the engineer’s reports required for the assessments have been prepared and filed and that “there are no new improvements or substantial changes to the existing improvements associated with the districts this year.” He said the anticipated revenue for the districts would be nearly $55,000. Staff recommended opening and closing the public hearing and then adopting the proposed resolution.
A resident, Mary Alice, urged clearer information about what the assessments cover and asked whether anticipated work on the pump and filtration system for the nearby lake would be included. “I’m concerned too about the amount of money that has been allotted. I’m also curious about the nature of the assessments,” she said, adding that references in the materials to measures passed in 1972 were “old.”
Assistant city staff and consultant Ed Espinosa of Francisco and Associates responded that the districts fund maintenance and operation of specific street medians and related irrigation and capital replacement work. “District … Number 11, what it funds is the maintenance and operation of the medians on Edgewater Drive, Lake Boulevard, and Park Shore Drive,” Espinosa said. He added, “It does not fund any maintenance or operations associated with the lake,” and that including lake work would require property‑owner approval through Proposition 218 proceedings.
Espinosa explained how assessments are set: a budget is prepared annually, and because the district has no automatic annual assessment escalator, the annual maximum assessment is set to meet budget needs. He said that while reserves have been maintained in past years, this year staff anticipates using reserves to cover plant, tree and irrigation replacements rather than collecting an additional reserve assessment.
After the public hearing was closed, Vice Mayor Freitas moved and Councilmember Jorgens seconded adoption of the resolution. The presiding official announced the motion passed, with a 3–0 tally; the transcript records Council Member Susie Coiaso and a council member recorded in the minutes as Anna Apodaca (also later recorded as “Hana Apodaca” in the same meeting record) as absent. A resolution confirming diagrams and assessments and levying and collecting assessments for Landscaping and Lighting Districts 2 and 11 for fiscal year 2025 was read into the record.
The resolution authorizes staff to add the adopted assessments to property tax bills within the districts; there was no council direction in the record to change the scope of the districts or to include lake maintenance under these assessments. Implementation will follow the city’s normal assessment‑billing procedures.
The council adjourned at the end of the special meeting.
