Vote on utilities sparks debate

Many Newport Beach residents see the advantage in taking utilities from above their homes and streets and hiding them below ground. It reduces fire dangers from power lines, wipes away unsightly poles and wires cascading through streets, and increases utility reliability — not to mention the potential benefit in property value.

Despite those benefits, there is one clear downside to the construction, according to Newport Beach resident Andrea Lucas.

“I have no idea how we are going to pay for it,” she said.

On July 22, the city tallied a vote to approve the underground utilities in assessment district 101 — an area east of Buena Vista, southeast of Edgewater Avenue, west of Adams Street and north of Balboa Boulevard.

The vote wasn’t close. Nearly 62% of residents who voted favored the project, which will cost residents more than $4 million.

The vote is based, in part, on the assessment of how much each property owner will pay for construction.

First, an independent assessment engineer is hired by the city to determine the particular costs to each property owner through a complicated formula based on benefits received from the construction. The costs of the assessor are advanced by the city and if the final vote does not approve the project, the city eats the initial design and study costs.

The assessment amounts tallied for each property are then used as votes. Each dollar assessed is counted as one vote, meaning a resident whose assessed cost was $15,000 got 15,000 votes for their one ballot. Some properties were assessed in the $30,000 range, others in the $4,000 range.

The total vote was $2,054,445.77 in favor and $1,260,755.08 against.

The city champions the process as democracy in action: A resident begins the process by proposal, a petition is then needed from 60% of residents for the potential construction to be studied, and a vote is needed before construction begins and the bill is passed to property owners.

“The city merely serves as the conduit to obtain financing and conducts balloting,” wrote Public Works Director Steve Badum in an e-mail. “It’s one of the purest forms of democracy — majority rules.”

But for Lucas, that just isn’t fair.

“I don’t know what to do,” Lucas said. “I can’t even pay my mortgage.”