The last hurdle to annexation was a lawsuit brought by the Citizen’s Association of Sunset Beach. That suit, which contended that the voters in Sunset should have the right to vote on whether or not to accept Huntington Beach tax rates, was dismissed in the Orange County Superior Court. The judge ruled that the taxes, which are already existing in Huntington Beach, are not new taxes and thereby do not need voter approval.
The whole process has involved lawyers from the city, LAFCO, and the Association, who plans to appeal the latest decision.
From the Huntington Beach Independent:
Sunset Beach is now officially part of Huntington Beach, a spokesman for a county commission said Monday.
Benjamin Legbandt, a policy analyst for the Orange County Local Agency Formation Commission, said his group had filed paperwork with the county earlier in the day. The state will have to approve the paperwork as well, but Legbandt called that an administrative formality and said the annexation can be considered complete.
“We’ll probably send the notification to the affected agencies tomorrow,” he said.
Read the full article here.