RESULTS ARE MIXED IN FIRST OF PALMDALE STREET-LIGHT VOTES.

Byline: Jim Skeen  Staff Writer

PALMDALE - In the first of a series of votes brought on by escalating energy costs, homeowners in five Palmdale neighborhoods voted to include themselves in Los Angeles County's street lighting district.

Homeowners in two subdivisions voted against joining the lighting district, which means their street lights will soon be switched off unless the homeowners assume the responsibility themselves.

``The normal procedure is to get the lights turned off as soon as possible,'' Edison spokeswoman Alis Clausen said. ``If there's no push for a revote, we will remove the lights.''

The tracts were among 30 such subdivisions whose lighting service was in limbo after Palmdale property owners rejected a citywide street-light rate increase.

Those 30 tracts, all relatively new, were paying no street-light fees; instead, the costs had been covered by funds put up by the developers but now the money is running out, officials said.

In the tracts that agreed to join the street-lighting district, homeowners will be charged annual fees of up to $70.

The two tracts that rejected joining the district are the 89-lot Harris tract and the 165-parcel Beezer tract, both in Rancho Vista.

At a joint City Council/Planning Commission meeting Wednesday, county officials are to present their time line for votes on the other 23 tracts that are not in the lighting district as well as plans for votes in older neighborhoods in the rest of Palmdale.

Homeowners in older neighborhoods could vote as early as February or March. Homeowners will be asked to approve a fee increase from $50 to $70.

The rate hike request is being triggered by rising electricity costs from the 2000-2001 energy crisis. County officials said they will try to do a better job of communicating with homeowners than they did in 2001, when property owners voted 2-1 to reject an increase in the annual fee from $50 to $77.

This time, county officials said they have reduced the proposed fee increase to $70 and changed a provision for automatic annual increases. In addition, voting will be by individual tracts rather than citywide, as was done in 2001.

If approved, the higher fees would take effect starting in July and appear on the 2003-2004 property tax bill.

As happened last time, the voting will be done by mailed ballots. With voting on a housing-tract basis, homeowners in one tract could approve the increase even if those in other tracts don't.

To address a complaint over the increase proposal, the new one pegs any increase to the Consumer Price Index, going up only as the CPI goes up.

Last time, homeowners and Palmdale city officials feared the rates would go up automatically, based on the state Public Utility Commission's approval for Southern California Edison Co. to increase street-lighting charges.

The votes will come because of Proposition 218, approved by Californians in 1996, which required that increases in assessments be approved by property owners.

The 30 tracts where homeowners do not pay street-light fees were still uncompleted when Proposition 218 passed, leaving officials unable to impose any fee without a vote.

Those neighborhoods' street-lighting bills have been paid so far by money the developers were required to set aside to cover costs for three years.

The 30 tracts weren't included in last year's balloting, which contributed to confusion among homeowners about why some Palmdale residents got to vote and others didn't.

Because of the situation, county government has stopped accepting new subdivisions into its street-lighting district, and Palmdale has started creating its own districts. The first city street-light district covers the Wal-Mart shopping center at Avenue S and 47th Street East.