Dear Editor,
As a 25-year Cypress resident, I haven’t always recognized how great the City of Cypress is. I assumed that all cities run as well as Cypress, so the great infrastructure, parks, retail establishments and commercial businesses were par for the course. In 2022, I began attending city council meetings, which led me to conduct a deeper dive into how Cypress compares to many other cities in Orange County. I then concluded what we have in Cypress is unique:
- Balanced budgets with strong reserves
- Low sales tax (7.75%)
- NO utility taxes
- Excellent parks and infrastructure
- Strong police force
- Outstanding city stats;
- Here are some recent comparisons and Cypress highlights to support my conclusion.
- Sales Tax — There are 11 cities throughout Orange County that have a sales tax higher than 7.75%. Seven of the eleven surround Cypress: Buena Park 8.75%, Garden Grove 8.75%, La Palma 8.75%, Los Alamitos 9.25%, Seal Beach 9.25%,
- Stanton 8.75%, and Westminster 9.25%. While Cypress has a balanced budget with reserves, these other cities needed to raise their sales tax to help balance their budgets.
- Utility Taxes — There are 10 cities in Orange County who require their residents to pay utility taxes. Six of the ten surround Cypress: Buena Park 3%, La Palma 5%, Los Alamitos 5%, Seal Beach 10%, Stanton 5%, and Westminster 4%.
- Parks — Cypress recently had a grand opening for the reimagined Arnold Park. This park existed prior to Cypress becoming a city in 1956, so it was well overdue for a complete upgrade. Several city council members over the past years demonstrated great leadership and vision in voting to make a significant investment so this park will be here for another 70+ years. The current council members who voted to reimagine Arnold Park were Scott Minikus and Bonnie Peat. As council member, Mayor David Burke voted NO to improving Arnold Park due to the cost, but recently voted to create an ad hoc park committee, which he and Council Member Chang administer, and most likely will result in spending more money on parks.
- Resident Satisfaction — Cypress recently completed their third community survey where 90% of residents say Cypress is an excellent/good place to live. In 2022, 93% of residents said Cypress is an excellent/good place to live. Therefore, I’m not alone in saying we should celebrate Cypress, and although I’m not opposed to those who want to criticize the city, I believe the criticisms should be supported with facts.
- At a recent townhall, Mayor Burke highlighted Cypress’s low residential trash rate, which in a comparison of 10 Orange County cities between the population of 30,000 to 60,000 is the 2nd lowest and across the 32 cities in Orange County, the 11th lowest. However, if Cypress residents attend city council meetings or read social media/local online publications, you would think Cypress has a horrible trash contract. Facts matter.
With so much good happening in Cypress due to decades of strong leadership and outstanding staff oversight, let’s focus on the facts about this great city.
Pearl Boelter
Cypress