Collecting unpaid taxes may cost over $100K
By Daily Press staff
CITY HALL — Elected officials here are expected to spend nearly a half million dollars on everything from office space to improving streets and the airport runway to purchasing five new hydrogen sedans.
The biggest ticket on tonight’s agenda is $148,000 for improvements to sidewalks, streets and the airport runway.
The $148,000 is an addition to a $5.8 million two-year project for street resurfacing, new curb ramps and bus pads, as well as repairs to curbs, gutters and sidewalks. The project also included runway sealing and restriping at the Santa Monica Airport.
Between the time of the original contract — approved in 2003 — and construction, additional damage had occurred to sidewalks, curbs and gutters from tree root incursion and other causes, according to city staff. The construction of an additional concrete intersection on Wilshire Boulevard at 17th Street was added to the contract with Security Paving Company Inc., as well as improvements at the airport. (Editor’s note: This is part of an ongoing series that tracks the city’s expenditures which appear on the upcoming Santa Monica City Council consent agenda. Consent agenda items are routinely passed by the City Council with little or no discussion from elected officials or the public. However, many of the items have been part of public discussion in the past).
OFFICE SPACE The City Council is expected to approve two leases for office space for the city’s environmental and public works department and the water resources department.
The water resources staff leases 4,140 square feet on the third floor in a building at 1212 Fifth St. at $2.73 a square foot and $1,000 a month for 15 parking spaces. The lease expires on Jan. 31 and staff is proposing to renew the lease for three additional years, city documents show. However, the new rate will be $2.80 per square foot, increasing to $2.93 in the 19th month of the lease. The energy and green building program staff currently occupies leased space at 1918 Main St., but that lease expires on Nov. 14. However, its staff wants to move the environmental programs division to the ground floor of the Fifth Street location. The lease would be for 36 months on the third floor and 39 months for the ground floor, with an option to renew for two years.
The environmental programs division would lease 1,819 square feet at about $3.10 a square foot, plus $225 per month for three parking spaces. The rate increases to $3.20 in the 13th month and $3.25 in the 25th month. The total amount for both spaces amounts to $105,000.
HYDRO POWERED Another $100,000 will be spent if the City Council decides to participate in a five-year hydrogen vehicle demonstration with the South Coast Air Quality Management District. The project’s goal is to bring five zero-emission sedans into the city’s fleet in order to test their performance and reliability in everyday use. The city would use the vehicles for 60 months.
The city’s sustainable city plan, adopted in 1994, included a goal to have 70 percent alternative fuel vehicles by 2000. Santa Monica has surpassed that goal, mostly through the procurement of CNG vehicles, city staff said.
With this latest program, the city will convert five hybrid Prius vehicles to hydrogen power and install a hydrogen fueling facility at the city yard. Virtually all of the costs associated with the project will be paid by the SCAQMD — about $850,000 for the fueling facility. Santa Monica’s cost will be $100,000 for installing the fueling system, according to city staff.
The system extracts hydrogen from water through a proton exchange membrane electrolysis process using electricity that is 100 percent clean and renewable, city staff said.
The cities of Burbank, Riverside, Santa Ana and Ontario also plan to participate in the project. The SCAQMD concept is to contract with a vendor who would convert fleet vehicles in each city to use hydrogen.
The SCAQMD will pay a contractor selected by the city. Santa Monica’s obligation would be to provide a site at the city yard, facilitate project approvals and permitting for the facility, prepare the site with utility connections and pay for the electrical costs of the system, all of which will be overseen by city staff. It’s expected that the vehicles and facility would be operational by the middle of next year.
City staff justifies the program by arguing the experience will allow Santa Monica to influence regulators, vehicle manufacturers and fuel suppliers as major policy decisions on hydrogen vehicles are made over the next several years. The project also may assist the city in successfully competing with other public agencies for alternative fuel vehicle grants and other financial resources.
CHECKING UP ON THE TAX MAN The City Council may also spend $85,000 in efforts to find millions more in unpaid taxes.
City staff has recommended to extend a contract with an auditing firm to track unrealized revenue generated by the utility users tax, franchise tax and the transient occupancy tax.
The city levies local taxes on the use of electricity, natural gas, telephone, cable, wastewater and water services, hotel rooms and the use of public right of ways by utility companies. But City Hall doesn’t receive all of the revenue it is entitled to due to administrative errors or taxpayers fail to pay the fees. As a result, City Hall has for several years contracted with MBIA MuniServices Co. to conduct audits.
Over the last three years, the company has generated about $3 million in additional revenue for the city, according to staff.
The contract, however, expired in May and the company has been working on a month-to-month basis. The new contract would cost $85,000, plus the auditing company would get 25 percent of revenue recovered on the hotel tax, utility tax and franchise tax.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on October 26, 2004. Read the original PDF.