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La Habra Heights weighs replacing two assessments with a general tax as grants and oil revenue fall
Summary
At a Jan. 10 strategic-planning workshop, La Habra Heights officials warned of shrinking grant and fuel-tax revenue, discussed restoring staff levels and sketched options to sunset existing assessments and place a general tax on the ballot to shore up the city budget.
La Habra Heights officials on Jan. 10 told residents a narrow revenue base and diminishing grant and gasoline-tax income have left the city with limited flexibility and mounting staff workload, and that council is considering a ballot measure to stabilize funding.
Rafferty, the city manager, said the city is “pretty much purely residential,” with most revenue coming from property taxes, permits and fees, and that only “about 10¢ on the dollar is what comes into the city.” He told the council that federal and state grants have become less reliable and that gasoline-related road funds are shrinking as vehicles become more fuel efficient.
The revenue squeeze has coincided with a long-term drop in staff: councilmembers said full-time staffing fell from roughly 21–22 positions in 2010 to about 16 today, increasing workloads for remaining employees. “We have to get our staff levels at least back to the 2010 level,” Councilmember Greg said, arguing that more revenue would address many operational problems.
Councilmembers discussed two broad paths: preserve the city’s existing, designated assessment streams (which historically required two-thirds voter approval) or sunset those assessments and place a single general tax before voters, which council legal counsel advised would likely require a simple majority. Greg said the idea of consolidating assessments into an ongoing general tax could reduce administrative complexity while broadening the city’s ability to respond to inflationary costs.
The council also described a parallel private fundraising effort: the La Habra Heights Community Foundation, a newly formed 501(c)(3), was created over the holidays to accept tax-deductible donations for capital needs such as fire apparatus. Greg said the foundation’s initial board will include Stan Carroll, Roy Francis and Fred Klein and that it is intended to help capitalize long-lived equipment that the general fund struggles to replace.
Mayor (title) emphasized that the council prides itself on conservative budgeting and wants to preserve both services and the city’s fiscal stability. “We’re gonna have to float a tax out there and get approval for it,” the mayor said, noting the need to begin planning soon if council wants a measure on the November ballot.
Next steps the council directed: ask the city attorney to outline legal and procedural options (sunset-and-replace versus maintaining assessments), produce more precise fiscal numbers for the February meeting and consider community outreach and survey work to test resident support for potential ballot measures.
No formal vote or ordinance was taken at the workshop; members agreed to return with cost estimates, legal guidance and public-engagement plans in subsequent meetings.
