Dear Editor,
As a 24-year resident of Cypress, I have been impressed with the ability of the City Council and city staff to manage the numerous budget and business responsibilities that make this city a great place to live. There are many things I can point to that make me proud to be a Cypress resident.
The amazing police force that makes Cypress a safe place to live, work, and visit. The well-maintained infrastructure throughout the city, which also includes the wonderful parks. The fiscal responsibility the city council and city staff have over the budget which is assisted by the promotion of a strong business and retail environment in Cypress.
Over the past two years, I have attended several city council meetings and spoke with Cypress city residents and voters who expressed concerns over the trash contract and rates. Although it appeared that these concerns came from a minority of Cypress residents, they took me by surprise.
As an Administrative Manager/Director by trade, I am used to conducting research when presented with a new issue. With the trash rate concern, I focused on the surrounding Northwest Orange County cities and decided to include sales and utility taxes since all of them impact the Cypress resident’s budget.
Here are the cities used for comparison: Buena Park, Garden Grove, La Palma, Los Alamitos, Seal Beach, Stanton, and Westminster. The following are my findings using government websites and documents referenced at the end of this article.
1. Cypress and Buena Park have the lowest sales tax at 7.75%. Buena Park has put on the November ballot a 1% increase for their residents to vote on. If passed, Cypress will have the lowest sales tax in our area.
2. Cypress and Garden Grove are the only two cities without utility taxes. In Seal Beach and Los Alamitos, these taxes can reach up to $160/year for each resident.
3. Trash rates range from $12.95 to $27.29. Cypress’ rate of $23.32 is below the median rate for the cities I studied.
4. Since the length of the contract was also a concern, I noted several other cities with long-term trash hauler contracts. Additionally, these contracts are challenging, and the state of California continues to add requirement such as food recycling to a city’s responsibility, which lends credence to a longer contract.
There has been another recent issue concerning to Cypress residents including myself.
I know that there are still residents/voters who are unaware they will not be voting for the two-city council open seats this November since Cypress was required to transition from at-large voting to district voting. Again, a complex issue stemming from a 2001 State bill titled the California Voting Rights Act (CVRA) which was amended in 2015.
Cypress, as well as many other cities was sued by an attorney using the CVRA. After Santa Monica’s case to remain an at-large voting city was unsuccessful, Cypress council with input from their attorney decided to settle the case and transition to district voting. Although I am in favor of at-large voting especially with Cypress’s population size, I understand why the city settled.
In summary, I want to thank the many city council members and city staff over the years that have worked tirelessly to make this city a wonderful place to live. The strong budgets and great retail and business community are possible due to decades of strong leadership.
In the upcoming election, we have a choice, to vote for leaders who will continue the traditions of strong leadership and financial strength or to select leaders who want to bring change to Cypress. I encourage Cypress voters to exercise your right to vote this November. If you need to register, please visit https://ocvote.gov/registration. Ballots will arrive to registered voters on October 7.
Pearl Boelter
Cypress