You may have recently received an unusual voting ballot in the mail regarding street lights in Arcadia that has nothing to do with the November Presidential election but which you will need to complete and mail back to the City.
Despite the complicated historical background, the issue facing us is really quite simple: it's up to we property owners to tell the City whether we want to pick up nearly 48% ($400,000) of the annual tab to maintain street lights ($848,000) or whether we prefer to have the City take the $400,000 away from other City expenses. Currently, the City pays about $448,000 out of the General Fund.

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Seeing the Light 
by Scott Hettrick
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That will be each voter's decision to make. Some of us are very happy with our street lights and the lighting around town in general. Others are not. I suspect votes will be determined along those lines, but voters should consider the matter a little more carefully than that.
Others may feel paying .85-cents - $2 each month is too much, espcially those who have been getting a free ride until now. Those who have been paying a disproportionately higher share of the freight for the rest of us will likely be happy to pay less. That's where the historical baggage comes in.
The City has long been assessing property owners lighting fees based on an outdated assessment district calculation that expires in June 2010. Many property owners have been paying more than $8 per month, while others have paid nothing through the system that divided the City into four zones, with property owners picking up 50%, 60%, 100% or 0% of the cost in their zone. In June 2010, that outdated assessment calculation will no longer exist and a new system for paying the $400,000 for street lights must be determined. The City's new proposal simplifies the assessments by dividing the town into only three zones, with most paying $2 per month (including my wife and I). Somewhere between 1,000 - 1,500 people will pay about .85-cents per month. And those who don't have street lights will not be charged anything.
As complex as it sounds -- and it is further complicated by the fact that this is an unusual voting procedure involving a mail-in ballot that comes just as we are preparing for the unrelated Nov. 4 election -- it's really all very simple. Those who enjoy street lights can continue to enjoy them for no more than $2 per month, or we can risk having the City pay for the lights by taking the money away from other City programs we enjoy, or cutting back on current street light services.
Whatever your decision, mark either the yes or no box (we'll be marking the Yes box) and stick the ballot in the pre-addressed envelope and take it or mail it to City Hall before Nov. 18 (seems like the City could have at least sent us prepaid envelopes but I guess that would have raised our fees another .42-cents this year!).
If you still have questions, the City has set up the second information meeting for 6:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 16 at the City Council Chambers, 240 W. Huntington Dr., or you may call Tom Tait or Maria Aquino of the Public Works Services Dept. at 256-6554 during business hours.