Castro Valley a City?
Longtime Castro Valley activist Michael Kusiak pauses for coffee on July 22, 2022.
Castro Valley cityhood is not being pushed currently and would be unlikely to work unless current state laws are changed, long-time incorporation advocate Michael Kusiak told the Castro Valley Rotary on July 19.
This is despite a study the Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) of Alameda County is planning on the feasibility of incorporating—granting cityhood to—several unincorporated areas in the county. Each county has a LAFCO, which is independent of the county government, and any new incorporation would need its approval.
The last new incorporation allowed anywhere in the state was in 2011 in Riverside County. LAFCO on its website was clear that the proposed Castro Valley study is not the kind of study people pushing for a new city would have to undertake, and pay for, to trigger that process.
Cityhood has been voted on twice in Castro Valley, most recently in 2002. Voters defeated the ballot proposal by a wide margin both times.
Kusiak, a long-time activist, writer for the blog San Leandro Matters, and a school board member speaking as an individual, said that other counties’ LAFCOs have often encouraged incorporations, usually by annexing areas adjacent to existing cities, but Alameda County’s has not.
“Six million Californians live without local government, about 20 percent of the state’s population. They could use some more democracy.”
“Six million Californians live without local government, about 20 percent of the state’s population,” said Kusiak. “They could use some more democracy.”
Kusiak thinks that local rule for Castro Valley would be a good idea — once a state law that would starve any new city for revenue is changed. Currently, the county government runs Castro Valley directly, except for several local districts providing things like water, sewage, parks, and schools.
But Kusiak says SB89, a state law on the distribution of the Vehicle License Fee (VLF), makes it impossible for any new city to survive financially.
In fact, four recently incorporated cities in Riverside County almost had to immediately dissolve when the law passed. They survived due to a later change in state law that only applied to them, Kusiak said.
The VLF, paid by every Californian who registers a motor vehicle, is a major source of revenue for counties and cities, especially newer cities.
Kusiak suggests changing or repealing SB89, assessing the effect for a few years, and then revisiting incorporation in Castro Valley and elsewhere.
Castro Valley does have the size and economic base to make it on its own if the law is changed, Kusiak believes.
“Of the state’s 482 cities, over 300 are smaller than Castro Valley,” he notes.
LAFCO spokesperson Rachel Jones says the agency is currently drafting an RFP and evaluating the scope of services that will address the Preliminary Comprehensive Fiscal Analysis factors, focus areas, and required analysis.