The San Diego Solid Waste Management Authority will conduct its inaugural long-term borrowing in mid-1995, a board member for the newly formed joint powers authorty said last week.
After completing a strategic plan to identify assets and liabilities, the authority will "go out for bonding on capital projects" said Henry Aborbanal, deputy mayor of Del Mar, Calif., who is a member of the authority's budget and audit committee. Del Mar is one of seven cities that joined with San Diego County to create the regional authority, which held its first meeting June 1.
Besides Del Mar, member cities are encinitas, Lemon Grove, National City, Poway, Solana Beach, and Vista.
Ten other cities in San Diego County must decide whether they want to join the authority by the end of the month. San Diego, the county's largest city, does not plan to join because it has a separate trash program and landfill.
The authority was created in response to complaints from several cities that the country's solid waste division, which operates five land-fills, was charging them too much to dump their trash. By agreeing to create the authority, San Diego County supervsors gave the participating cities a louder voice in regional solid-waste decisions.
The authority hopes to get more cities to participate, said Scott Peters, a county deputy counsel.
A state appellate court rejected a legal challenge to California's controversial tax law that shifts property tax revenues from local governments to schools.
In a 3-to-0 ruling, a panel ofthe California Third District Court of Appeal in Sacramento rejected a lawsuit by several plaintiffs led by San Miguel, Calif., Consolidated Fire Protection District. Plaintiffs' attorney William D. Ross said last week that no decision has been made on whether to appeal to the California Supreme Court. Other plaintiffs in the suit was seven fire districts, a water district providing fire protection, and nine tax-payers.
In its May 25 ruling, the panel said the state was entitled to allocate poperty taxes to schools, an action the state's political leadership took to balance the budget. The court held the state constitution "expressly authorizes the legislature to apportion property tax revenues," and said the property tax revenues," and said the property tax shift was "neither unconstitutionally vague nor uncertain."
In another property tax shift case, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Robert H. O'Brein on June 6 confirmed his earlier tentative ruling that rejected eight local government lawsuits filed against the state.
Plaintiffs could now appeal the trial court ruling to the appellate court level, but they face an uphill battle to convince courts that the reallocation of property taxes was illegal, said Allen Sumner, a state senior assistant attorney general.
A panel of the California Sencond District Court of Appeal on March 30 rejected a challenge to the state's property tax shift by Los Angeles County.
The county filed a petition for review with the state Supreme Court at the beginning of June, and the high court is expected to announce whether it will hear the case by early August, according to Los Angeles county assistant counsel Federick R. Bennett.
Despite the rulings in the state's favor, Bennett, speaking figuratively, said, "I don'[ think we've seen the last campfire."
