They know there is at least a $69 per new home built shortfall in simply being able to maintain current police and fire service staffing.

The claim they need a sales tax because the city soon won’t have enough money to maintain current service levels.

They say they are committed to making sure growth pays its way.

They contend it’s a new day for Manteca in that the city will learn from its past mistakes to build a better community going forward.

They take pot shots at previous councils and previous city administrations for failing to put Manteca on a strong financial footing.

So what does it mean if they — as in the Manteca City Council — on Tuesday fails to step up for present and future city residents and make sure the occupants of yet another 655 homes won’t worsen Manteca’s financial condition and contribute to the deterioration of the quality of life?

It’s hard to say, really.

That’s because someone — elected official or high-level bureaucrat — will likely fall back on one of a number of worn out excuses floated over the years. And in doing so Meritage Homes will get a master community facilities district that takes the pressure off city staff to process smaller CFDs plus the added bonus of their future homeowners only paying $318 a year plus three percent annual inflation adjustments for neighborhood park, street light, and common landscaping maintenance.

Yet next door in a neighborhood about to break ground, buyers of those homes will have to cover all of that plus the $69 funding gap needed to maintain the current level of police and fire service in Manteca that won’t be covered by the projected property and sales taxes those future homeowners will pay.

Let’s go through the old song and dance routine

*The $69 annual fee with inflation adjustments will make housing less affordable.

That’s a gut buster. Just last year the council slapped the $69 annual fee on Manteca Trails homes being built next door including those on smaller lots with small square footage designed to be more affordable. Meritage is planning no small lots meaning their homes will be less than affordable.

*The city hasn’t done a study, nexus, analysis, or whatever yet.

It’s the same old refrain that has come up every time such an issue has been raised for almost eight years yet the studies are never done before the next project comes along. Besides, doesn’t anyone on city staff bother to check other studies they’ve done such as the one they did just last year to legally justify the $69 annual police and fire fee on the Manteca Trails homes?

*The City Council has never given direction, as it in a roll call vote, on a CFD requiring police and fire fees.

True, but what is even more true is the people at city hall are supposed to be the experts. This council, and previous councils, has made it clear they want growth to pay for itself and to find creative and legal ways of adding revenue without seeking a general tax increase. Staff should be advancing such suggestions such as CFD charges for proportional costs of services such as police, fire, library services, or whatever elected civic leaders believe are needed to maintain service levels and do so until they are told not to. If you don’t think growth has completely tanked Manteca’s library services to Stone Age service levels, the city library was designed only to serve a city less than had the size Manteca is now.

*Turning down the master CFD is unfair because the developers’ representatives have been working on it in good faith.

You want to know what is really unfair. It’s a city council allowing out-of-town developers to come in and build 655 homes, pocket their profits, while leaving current and future Manteca residents holding the bag.

Here’s a simple solution. The council can say good idea but vote it down. In doing so, they can tell the staff to ask the developer if they are willing to accept the previous study as legal justification for a police and fire services fee. If so, bring it back to the next meeting for approval.

*The city can’t do that because it needs a separate study.

No problem. Reject the master CFD and tell staff to do the study. And while they are at it throw in things such as maintenance for the storm drainage system in the neighborhood and collecting money toward the eventual replacement of pumps and telemetry in the storm retention basin in neighborhood parks.

This could take months. Given the city has a policy in place where occupancy permits won’t be issued until a CFD is in place, let Meritage Homes readjust their development schedule.

*The city needs a uniform CFD policy to be fair.

No problem. Continue processing housing projects with CFDs attached and add language that sets a fee for police and fire services contingent on what a study says is the funding gap  to maintain current service levels. If this prompts Meritage Homes to sue, so be it.

The only real downside is that their home building can be tied up in court. And given this is San Joaquin County and there is a pandemic on, it could easily take years. As for the legal costs the city would incur, one could argue that it will likely be a lot less than having homes added to the city that perpetually undermine police and fire service levels effectively shifting the cost of the growth that Meritage Homes will profit from to all of the city residents.

*Staff doesn’t have the time to address such CFD issues.

Fine, then hire a consultant, let them take six months to a year, and then adopt recommended fees and then suspend them as the city did with water and sewer fees. While that makes no sense it is exactly what the city has done in the past. This way if Manteca has to suffer for Meritage Homes dumping 655 more homes on Manteca that will be a proven drain on city police and fire services — see the Manteca study that identified the $69 funding gap just last year — then Meritage Homes can suffer a bit as well.

The city, we are told, will one day be looking at updating growth fees to make sure they are generating enough to cover growth’s legal share of roads and such as well as to see if there are other projects that they should be helping pay for.

Mayor Ben Cantu knows how incredibly slow paced city government can be given he worked in it for 30 years. That is why he advocated suspending issuing new home permits last year unrelated such time growth fees and policies were updated.

Such a move is not legal under California law. No problem. The CFD stage for all projects without a final map is a way the city can still make it somewhat whole at least in the realm of day-to-day services paying for park upkeep, police and fire services, and power to run street lights.

If this is indeed a new day in Manteca, the master CFD proposal in its current form will be rejected with instructions for the staff to bring it back with at least a share to cover the police and fire funding gap fees in it. If the city attorney said no dice as it has to be an up and down vote, reject the CFD and get council consensus to have the CFD brought make in a future agenda for council to consider adding fees for everything state law allows - police and fire services, recreation programs, libraries, street maintenance, parks, open space maintenance, as well as flood and storm maintenance.

And if it is the same old song they’ll just kick the can farther down the street with a new twist. Instead of just blaming past city councils and municipal administrations for Manteca’s woes they can blame future city councils and municipal administrations.

 This column is the opinion of editor, Dennis Wyatt, and does not necessarily represent the opinions of The Bulletin or 209 Multimedia. He can be reached at dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com