Annexation Study: Cost Of Services For Sun City Outweighs Sales Tax
The Palm Desert City Council is expected to consider the results of a study on the cost of annexing communities north of Interstate 10 as early as February.
A study released this month shows that Palm Desert could lose millions if the city annexed Sun City Palm Desert and other areas north of Interstate 10.
The study, conducted by Palm Desert-based Terra Nova Planning and Research, determined adding Sun City Palm Desert and commercial areas to the west of the walled-in development would cost the city $5.7 million to provide police, fire and other services over a 10-year period.
The study also showed that adding the Classic Club and land around Xavier Preparatory High Schoo would cost $3.5 million over 20 years, according to the report dated January 2012.
The annexation areas include vast areas of undeveloped desert around Sun City Palm Desert and the Classic Club.
"One of the fundamental reasons for this shortfall is the high percentage of residential lands in the area, and the comparatively small percentage of commercial sales tax-generating development," according to a staff report prepared by Director of Community Development Lauri Aylaian.
The Palm Desert City Council is expected to discuss the study's findings as early as its Feb. 23 meeting. The Council had directed city staff to prepare the feasibility study during its September 2011 meeting.
Mayor Bob Spiegel told the Desert Sun he's open to the possibility.
"I'd love for Sun City to be a part of Palm Desert, personally, but it has to make financial sense,” he told the newspaper.
The 650 acres that house the Classic Club were added to Cathedral City's sphere of influence last year. The H.N. and Frances C. Berger Foundation, which owns the property, had objected to the annexation.
Another 40-page study conducted by a group appointed by Sun City's neighborhood's community association, came out in favor of Palm Desert annexation.
The study dinged nearby Indio and Cathedral City for “infrastructure problems." It also reports that residents would see an increase in property values and a boost in police and ambulance services.
"Palm Desert Police Department staffing levels of 80 sworn deputies (of which 36 are assigned to patrol) far exceeds staffing levels currently provided by the county," the report states.
The Riverside County Sheriff's Department currently deploys two deputies for all unincorporated areas from North Shore to Sun City Palm Desert due to budget cuts.
