You’re not the only ones…
The North Natomas Finance Group is a coalition of area residents trying to get answers to the question “What the heck is happening to all our Natomas money?”
North Natomas homeowners pay high property taxes and assessments. Developers pay lots of fees. Where’s all that money going? Why is it so hard to get things like a police substation, community centers, a second fire station, or the Regional Park built?
The NNFG found out about the City’s “2008 Nexus Study” process, where they analyze and update the fee rates developers pay into the North Natomas Finance Plan (NNFP) which funds public facilities in North Natomas. Then the group discovered all the facilities they’d been asking about weren’t even close to being funded — except the library.
That’s because no residents had been involved in the Nexus process in recent years, so most money was spent on roadways and interchange improvements. And fees developers paid were too low to fund everything. Now, City staff is trying to reduce the number and size of roadway projects to reduce the shortfall.
The NNFP fund shortfall is now at an estimated $135 million!
But instead of putting the savings back into the fund, it looks like the City might refund it back to developers in reduced fees, unless the North Natomas Finance Group can make enough noise to change that.
The savings from axing North Natomas projects is about $36 million — and that’s money the City proposes to return to developers as fee refunds.
If you want answers, or want to see community facilities built in the neighborhood, you can be a big help by even just being in the room with the North Natomas Finance Group at meetings to show support.
The City meetings on the fees are monthly during the day on Wednesdays and the Nexus process is due to complete by end of May 2008. The more residents the City sees, the bigger influence North Natomas has.have.
To find out send an e-mail or join join this Yahoo Group.
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