COUNCIL ENDORSES SPECIAL DISTRICT.

Byline: Paul O'Donoghue Daily News Staff Writer

The City Council has unanimously signed off on a proposal that asks homeowners to pony up as much as $39 a year to maintain the city's 13 parks.

Under the plan, approved Wednesday, ballots will be mailed late this month to all city property owners, asking them to approve a new assessment district. The district would replace one disbanded last year after voters failed to approve it.

City Councilman John Wozniak urged voters to approve the new district, saying it would cost owners of single-family homes $39 a year, slightly less than the $41.16 they paid under the previous assessment district.

``I think the people will see some benefits here and it's a reduction of the last assessment,'' said Wozniak.

The assessment would allow the city to buy new playground and recreational equipment and water, and fertilize parks more frequently, and to reopen Monte Vista Park, which was closed because of cutbacks, Wozniak said.

Approval of the proposed assessment district will require approval by slightly more than 50 percent of respondents, since votes will be weighted according to the type of property that is owned.

Owners of single-family homes will get one vote, while the city will count 0.03 of a vote for every one-fifth of an acre of parking lots to 1.9 votes per one-fifth of an acre for owners of office buildings.

Following voters' rejection last year of a replacement assessment district, the city was able to continue operating the city's parks by dipping into its cash reserves, but that money is now exhausted and the city faces a budget deficit of $800,000 for fiscal 1999-2000, officials said.

This year's budget for operating the parks is $591,536 and next year's figure is projected at $866,914. The $275,380 increase over the 1998-1999 budget includes $124,000 to replace playground equipment, $55,000 to pay the consultant who is overseeing the vote on the new assessment district, and $6,000 to reopen Monte Vista Park.