Selma council limits $45 mobile‑home pass‑through charge after residents object

The Selma City Council on May 5 suspended a landlord’s $45 monthly pass‑through charge for residents of Frontier Mobile Home Park and substituted the allowable increase under local ordinance, a monthly rise of roughly $7.61.

At a packed public hearing, Shar Tucker, a property manager representing the park owner, told the council the $45 charge was intended to recover 2025 utility and service costs for water, garbage and electrical service that the owner had paid for four years. “This has nothing to do with their base rent. This is simply pass through expenses the owner has a right to recoup,” Tucker said, noting the full calculated share would have been about $77 per lot but the owner reduced that to $45.

Residents disputed the characterization. Daniel Ortiz, who said he has lived at the park for 30 years, described past service problems and disputed the owner’s notice and outreach. “I don’t need a new lease. I’ve been there 30 years … The garbage was piled as high as this house,” Ortiz said, adding that tenants had received bills and threats of shutoffs. Donald Schaefer, another long‑term resident, said many residents live on fixed incomes and could not absorb a sudden $45 jump. “To go $45 all at one time, just boom, no. I can’t do that,” Schaefer said.

City legal staff reviewed the mobile‑home rent ordinance and told the council the municipal code defines base rent as the amount charged for a space as of the chapter’s effective date and excludes pass‑through charges only where utilities are separately metered or otherwise charged pro rata. The attorney advised the council that the owner had not charged tenants separately for water, gas and similar services since acquiring the park, so those costs were likely built into base rent rather than newly collectible pass‑through charges.

After council members asked questions about the invoices, notice timing, and residents’ financial vulnerability, the council voted to suspend the owner’s requested 12.85% increase and to allow only the ordinance‑permitted adjustment—the lesser of 75% of the Western Region Consumer Price Index or 3%. Using the 3% calculation announced at the meeting, that produced a collectible increase of $7.61 per month, effective immediately.

The council’s action does not prohibit the owner from seeking future adjustments consistent with the municipal code procedures; the hearing record will be retained for subsequent enforcement or review.

The hearing brought multiple residents and staff comments about communication and property maintenance; council members and staff said they would follow up on service history and the landlord’s billing practices. The matter concluded with a formal, roll‑call motion and unanimous vote to enact the ordinance cap in place of the larger pass‑through charge.