2009 Legislative Recap
By: Emily Osterberg
As 2009 draws to a close it’s hard to believe another year has passed! In looking back at this past year, the Apartment Association of Orange County (AAOC) has had many successes both locally in Orange County, as well as in Sacramento. Here are some local issues we were involved in:
Water Rates:
Water rates have been rising consistently in Southern California over the past year due to a drought and less water being imported from Northern California. Basic economics teaches us that the more demand and the less supply, the higher the rate. Our goal at the AAOC is to make sure apartment owners are treated fairly and that they are billed in the same manner as single-family homeowners. We do not want our members to be faced with extra burdens other residents in their city do not have. In many cities the water rate structure did not change and increases were distributed evenly among single-family home owners and apartment owners. However, some cities did look into revising the way they charged rate payers.
One of these cities was Westminster. They formed an Ad Hoc Committee comprised of residents and council members to discuss the best way to revise their water rate structure. We were notified of the formation of the Ad Hoc Committee by Councilmember Tyler Diep, who we worked with to appoint members to the Committee we felt would represent the apartment industry well. In addition to the Ad Hoc members, AAOC staff members and board members also attended the meetings. We voiced our concerns and expressed what we would like to see in a new water structure. After months of revising proposals, the Ad Hoc Committee completed the new water structure to bring forward to the council. The AAOC was very pleased with the final version and was glad we could work with members of the Committee and City Staff to determine a structure that would benefit all residents in Westminster.
Another water issue occurred recently when the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD) considered raising their employees’ pensions from 2% at 55 to 2.5% at 55, which would have meant a 25% increase. Because MWD is already in the middle of a two year, 31% rate hike, the Apartment Association of Orange County (AAOC) was concerned and wrote MWD a letter opposing this proposal while encouraging our members to do the same.
This plan came to light after the District raised its members’ rates by 21.5% this past summer, with another 19% planned for 2011. While MWD claimed the rate hikes were not related to the proposed pay and pension hikes, their current pension system is in a $400 million decline and this plan would cost an additional $70 million. Taxpayers did not need another rate hike due to a pension plan that cannot be fulfilled.
Thanks to many letters from our members, as well as other concerned residents, the MWD Board removed the item from the agenda and asked the consultants to go back to the drawing board. While this angered some MWD employees, we saw this as a major victory for water rate payers throughout Southern California.
The Orange County Water District also recently voted to give their General Manager a 10% raise with a $15,000.00 bonus. This comes in the same year that the district refused cost of living increases to 145 employees. The AAOC feels this is an extremely high raise and bonus for an organization that constantly has to raise its members’ water rates.
Although the Water District’s Board already decided on this matter, the AAOC still wrote a letter expressing our concern and disapproval. It is not the responsibility of taxpayers be burdened with higher water rates to help cover the cost of an unnecessary raise and bonus.
Costa Mesa Fire Inspection Fee:
In Costa Mesa, the City was making changes to its Master Fee Schedule. One fee recommended was an Apartment Fire Inspection fee. Costa Mesa has not charged for this in the past. We felt this was an unnecessary fee, as many other fire departments, including the Orange County Fire Authority (OCFA), do not charge for this service and the cost for the inspection is minimal. It can also often be done as a training resource or in staff down time. While we understand fees are necessary for the cost of a service, we felt charging $60 per ½ hour was unjustified.
AAOC Board members and staff met with members of the Council and the Fire Prevention staff to discuss our concerns. The Council agreed that the Apartment Inspection Fees were unneeded and voted to not have the Apartment Inspection Fee OR the Business Inspection Fee included in the new Master Fee Schedule.
Legal Aid Unlawful Detainer Clinic:
This year the Federal Government granted Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-housing Program Funds to certain municipalities across the country. Some Orange County cities, and the County itself, received this money to give to non-profit organizations aimed at helping combat homelessness. One of the non-profits requesting funds was the Legal Aid Society of Orange County (LASOC) who requested money for their Unlawful Detainer Program.
While some of our staff visited the LASOC headquarters and were impressed with some of the programs offered, we were still very concerned with the fact that funds were going to be used to expand an Unlawful Detainer Clinic, which are designed solely to delay evictions for non-payment of rent. According to LASOC’s application, the program focused mostly on “legal services to help people stay in their home to the extent that their case was defensible.” Our fear was that this program would encourage more unnecessary lawsuits against landlords. While we believe that landlords have a responsibility to their tenants to take the proper steps when evicting, we live in a state where unjustified lawsuits are a normal occurrence, especially against property owners. To protect our members interested, we wrote letters and discussed our concerns with cities in Orange County, including Fullerton and Orange. Out of nine cities and the county that received HPRP funds only one, Garden Grove, voted to give LASOC any money. The others voted to give it to non-profits that will directly benefit the homeless instead of using legal matters to keep tenants in apartments.
Orange Unlawful Party Ordinance
The City of Orange is experiencing a major problem with unlawful parties occurring in residential neighborhoods on a consistent basis. To combat this issue, the City was looking to change its current party ordinance, making it stricter and thus easier to punish those throwing a party. However, one section of the proposed ordinance would have held a landlord criminally liable for parties thrown by their tenants, even if they don’t live in the same state!
While we believe landlords do have a responsibility to the City and their neighbors if their tenants are consistently causing problems, we also feel they need proper notification and should not be held criminally liable for something they did not do. We discussed our concern with a majority of the Council and they had similar uncertainties about the ordinance as it was written. They decided to make the changes we requested to the ordinance, including removing landlords from any criminal liability as well as revising the notification process. While landlords still may receive a charge for the police cost, it will be after three notifications of an Unlawful Party and only if they do not take any steps to reprimand their tenant, whether it be something as simple as a warning letter to the tenant or as severe as beginning an eviction process.
These are just a few of the issues the AAOC has worked on this year. We are constantly working to fight for your property rights at the city, county and state levels. Keep an eye out for our 2009 Legislative Year in Review!
If you have any questions about this or any other article, please contact Emily Osterberg at 714-638-5550 or eosterberg@aaoc.com. |
