DIXON, CA (MPG) - You aren't the only ones who might have noticed that there has been a huge deficit of care to mediums and public landscape areas in our small town of Dixon. The City Council heard a presentation at their last meeting after many residents have asked what was going on.

Assessment Districts are normally set up in advance of developing homes with determination of how much it will cost and then passed onto the new homeowner on their annual property tax bill permanently. This is what has been done for many years in Dixon so there are ten Landscape and Lighting Maintenance Districts (LLMD) with each assessment ranging from $6 to $136 per year, depending on when the area was developed and after they were developed. In addition, there is also a large 'core' area of Dixon that has no L & L assessments because they weren't established in those early years.

If you drive down any of the Dixon thoroughfares, such as Pitt School bordering the residential areas or along North First Street, or along North First Street where there are wide mediums filled with plants and trees, you'll know several mediums are looking shabby right now with huge weeds, dried foliage, untrimmed bushes, and trees that look on the verge of perishing. With the exception of the Valley Glen subdivision, all other LLMDs are not being funded satisfactorily due to increased costs.

City Council reviewed the situation, hearing a detailed report from Deputy Public Works Director Louren Kotow about each district and the prevailing maintenance fees for water, lighting, and landscape and other costs associated with each area. There was an additional detailed plan to offer the citizens an option of how to care for their districts via a ballot measure--after the City would activate an extensive educational program.

The goal with the ballot process was to give the residents a say in how they wanted to move forward with maintaining the properties or not. Basically the choice was Yes; "Raise my rates" or No, "Don't." Obviously a 'no' vote would mean Dixon losing the beautification locals have become accustomed to.

Community Activist Michael Ceremello responded during the public comment portion of the meeting stating that Kotow was not familiar with the history of this issue.

"The fact of the matter is that anybody can enjoy the landscape and lighting districts; that's why it was proposed long ago that we convert this to a city-wide thing. Don't we already pay real estate taxes to pay for the lighting everywhere whether or not they are in a district? How much does the school district pay for their water? What about downtown? Who maintains the lighting downtown? Who pays for those lights? Where does that money come from?" he said. "You're not asking enough questions."

When Mayor Thom Bogue agreed that it would be best for the cost to be spread over everyone, City Manager Jim Lindley said they are also looking at that option.

"We are looking at other alternatives and we have for several months," he said adding that he didn't want to add a "controversial item" onto the agenda before the elections and that he wanted to wait until the new Council was in place to bring another option.

"We haven't talked to council members before we moved forward with this process. We have been working with the financial team. Because it would be shared by everyone, there would be a much lower assessment needed. Everybody uses the bike trail and this would spread the cost and make the city look nicer," Lindley said.

Another option brought by Ceremello was the City paying for it all.

"With what you are already collecting, you're talking about $100 thousand a year. You have $6 million sitting in your reserves and you can't spend $200 thousand to take care of all the landscape and lighting needs in this city?" he asked. Councilman Jim Ernest was cautious of taking the full amount out of the general fund saying it would eventually "bleed out" the fund. There was no discussion of how other cities Dixon's size handles this.

"I just really believe that we should be looking at a flat rate. We don't need a bond, all we need is time," Mayor Bogue said.