Ripon’s general fund is covering roughly 43 percent of the $228,386 annual cost of five landscape maintenance districts’ to keep grass, trees, and shrubbery tidy and watered.

It will take a $95,485 transfer to the five LMDs in the budget for the current fiscal year that started July 1 to cover the shortfall.

To put that in perspective, it is roughly half the cost for a police officer when salary and benefits are added together.

At tonight’s 6 p.m. City Council meeting, elected officials will approve parcel assessments for LMDs that have a clause in them to allow for adjusting to the rate of inflation. There are six other districts that do not have such language. One, Jacobs Landing, is expected to have a $16,470 balance when June 30, 2027 rolls around.

The council also will approve the overall spending plan for the city that includes transferring $95,455 out of the general fund to cover the shortfall for the five districts in deficit spending that can’t be adjusted for inflation.

The six districts that lack language to allow for annual inflation adjustments were formed long before the current council took office.

The city could conduct a parcel assessment election in the six districts to adjust parcel charges for current costs and add language to allow future annual adjustments for inflation.

But because that would require more than 50 percent of the impacted property owners to agree it is highly unlikely to pass.

Staff is recommending that the four the landscape maintenance districts that did include language that allows the assessment to be indexed over time to account for inflation be adjusted as follows:

*Carolina’s LMD assessment be increased from $262.50 to $275.62 per parcel (5%) to cover the recent increase in expenses. The recommended balance for this District is $40,000.

*Cornerstone LMD assessment to be increased from $130.36 to $136.88 per parcel (5 %) to cover the recent increase in expenses. The recommended balance for this District is $80,000.

*Vineyard LMD assessment to remain at $488.26 per parcel. The revenue in this district is currently exceeding the expenses, but it is a new district and the fund balance necessary for future capital replacement is $300,000.

*Alexandra LMD assessment be increased from $301.62 to $306.14 per parcel (1.5%) to cover expenses and begin to establish a capital replacement fund (the goal of this district is $20,000). This district was recently established and does not have a balance available for future capital replacement.
The five LMDs that are being partially subsidized by the city’s general fund are Dutch Meadows, Country Meadows, Farmland, Main Street, and Boesch-Kingrey.

The largest subsidy is for the Main Street LMD. The city is covering $60,676 of the overall $131,696 cost.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com