BACKER OF VOTE ON ANNEX ON OFFENSE.

Byline: Judy O'Rourke Staff Writer

SANTA CLARITA - A Canyon Country man hoping to force a vote on a plan to annex his neighborhood to Santa Clarita distributed this week to residents a 10-page handout, one which a city official and an annexation proponent say doesn't tell the full story.

Steven Huerta said he doesn't oppose annexation but wants residents of the Stonecrest neighborhood - the nearest tract to the planned Cemex mine the city is fighting - to petition for a vote. His earlier attempt to force the issue to a vote was voided by a bureaucratic error.

But proponents questioned his motive Friday, a day after residents were allowed by law to protest the annexation.

Resident Bob Baida initiated the annexation effort 5 1/2 years ago and said he was met with mostly positive reactions. Friday he said Huerta's didn't tell the full story.

``While the statements he made are not inaccurate, they are not the whole truth - they are partial truths,'' Baida said.

In particular, Huerta's handout seems pro-Cemex, Baida said, noting most residents opposed plans for the massive sand and gravel mine.

Huerta countered that he simply believes annexation should be decided by vote.

Kai Luoma, a senior city planner, said Huerta's information on the fees and taxes city residents pay compared to county dwellers isn't clear.

Huerta, he said, did not fully explain how residents' landscape maintenance district fee might increase. The fee only would go up to cover increased costs of maintaining public medians and other areas.

The city proposes an inflationary adjustment of the cap that would average $24 a year over the next 10 years, Luoma said.

The handout also does not note the city's trash fee declined, effective today, and is $72 a year less than the county's.

The trash savings, Luoma said, would cancel out the city's streetlight district and stormwater fees. Also, city the county charges a utility tax the city doesn't pay.

``He fails to mention the elimination of a 5 percent utility users tax will save residents about $200 additional dollars a year,'' Luoma said.

Luoma added that the city funds law enforcement programs the county does not. Also, county residents no longer will receive discounted rates to participate in city parks programs.

Huerta said he composed most of the details on the sheet based on information obtained from city and county officials and the Internet.

``I am in no way telling people how to vote one way or another,'' he said.

The flier was accompanied by a protest form, newspaper clippings and pages printed from the Internet, including a press release from Cemex. About one-third of the flier discusses the company's proposed megamine in Soledad Canyon.

The annexation was tentatively approved by the Local Agency Formation Commission, which rules on municipal boundary changes, but after enough protests were received to potentially trigger a vote - and LAFCO discovered its procedural error - the agency decided to hold a new public hearing on the matter.