Countywide : Supervisors to Consider Assessments for Services

Homeowners in some unincorporated parts of the county may soon have to pay extra for street cleaning.

On Feb. 13, the county Board of Supervisors will consider whether to assess owners of property in several unincorporated areas to pay for such services as upkeep on public greenbelts, slope maintenance, landscaping and other work now paid for with property taxes.

The assessments would affect 60,000 property owners in 15 districts--10 of them in the southern part of the county --that are within the jurisdiction of the county Environmental Management Agency. The two largest groups of property owners who may be affected are in southern Laguna Hills and Mission Viejo, but the assessments also might go to smaller unincorporated areas in Rossmoor, the Tustin Hills, La Mirada Island and areas adjacent to Yorba Linda and La Habra.

The assessments would apply to owners of residential, commercial and industrial property. Owners of vacant property may be exempt, as may those who would not benefit directly from the services, said Robert Hamilton, special districts administrator for the agency.

In southern Laguna Hills, for example, the assessments might total $105 a year, he said, whereas in Tustin hills, the fee would be only $6 a year, for sewer service.

In Mission Viejo, about 16,000 homeowners would have to pay an additional $62 annually for services. According to Hamilton, it cost the county $2.5 million to deliver services to Mission Viejo in 1984 --$1.1 million short of what the area’s taxpayers paid to cover them.

The slack was picked up by a county Special District Augmentation Fund, which is subsidized by all property taxpayers in the county.

If approved, the assessments would go into effect in the 1986-87 fiscal year, Hamilton said.