Correspondence #44 - Sanitation - Laserfiche WebLink

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Alcala, Abigail From: Jim C < Sent: Friday, December 29, 2023 3:24 PM To: eComment Cc: Jim C Subject: Proposed increase in Sanitation Services User Charges for City of Santa Ana sanitation services TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN; The proposed increase from $5.35 per month to $11.72 per month effective July 1, 2024, is an increase of 45.65% which is outrageous. The City already has a sales tax of 10.25% which is the highest in Orange County. Most cities in Orange County have a sales tax of 7.75 which is 2.5% lower than the City of Santa Ana. The City also has a utility user's tax of 5.5% which is charged on Cable TV and Internet services; Electricity; Gas; Mobile Phone ; and all items billed on the Water bill (Basic Service Charge; Water; Refuse; Sanitation; and Sewer Service) My most recent Water bill included $13.69 utility user's tax, which can be seen to be no insignificant amount when applied to all the other bills enumerated. In fact the proposed increase to $11.72 will actually increase by another $0.65 per month in additional utility user tax. Very few Cities in Orange County have Utility Users Tax and those which do rarely include all of the services taxed by the City of Santa Ana I had at one time done research comparing the City of Santa Ana charges for items included in the Water bills with those charged by the Cities of Orange and Garden Grove and found those charged by Santa Ana to be significantly greater. I presented the results to the City Councilman for my Ward at the time and no action was taken. The reason I chose the Cities of Orange and Garden Grove was that I have friends residing in these cities and was abet to get copies of their utility bills for the comparison. I strongly oppose the proposed subject increase and urge the City to find ways to reduce spending instead of constantly increasing charges for services to the residents and property owners. If it is possible for other cities to provide these same services to their residents at a lower cost, surly the City of Santa Ana should be able to do the same. I am sending this protest by email and will also send by regular first class mail to: City of Santa Ana Attention: City Clerk P. O. Box 1988 M30, Santa Ana, CA 92702 Respectfully Submitted, 36