PD Editorial: Adding Roseland is no math problem

Roseland should be a part of Santa Rosa - and the city has the means to make it happen.

That’s the message to take away from an in-depth analysis of the long-discussed Roseland annexation that the Santa Rosa City Council reviewed last week.

That’s not to say that bringing the 7,000 residents of Roseland and other unincorporated areas inside the city’s boundaries will be inexpensive. The study of the costs of adding the 620-acre Roseland neighborhood, as well as four other pockets of county land, to the city would be at least $3.5 million a year.

In addition, the annexation, in the long run, would require roughly $80 million in improvements, including the addition of parks, reparation of roads, installation of storm drains to bring the area up to the city’s infrastructure standards.

But with the assistance of the county, all of this appears within reach.

The report notes that the $3.5 million a year would cover the cost of 10 additional police employees that would be needed to oversee the new neighborhoods as well as four or more additional workers who would be needed to care for the 12.6 miles of roads in Roseland. The roads, in particular, are in dire need of attention.

There are other costs as well, for staff for economic development, the City Attorney’s Office, etc. Some of that is to be expected.

But given the stores and businesses in the area, it is not all a costly proposition. Annexation would bring in tax revenue to the city of roughly $2.8 million a year. So the estimated net loss for Santa Rosa would be roughly $733,000 a year.

To put that in perspective, that’s less than 0.6 percent of the city’s general fund budget or roughly 30 percent of the surplus in property tax and sales tax revenue the city is anticipating this year. It’s a manageable sum, particularly given the county’s commitment to help minimize the financial losses for the city.

This is a long-term process. But the annexation plan appears to have two key factors in its favor at this point - strong political support from county and city leaders and a financial plan that shows it can work.

What’s needed now is the engagement of residents of Roseland, these other unincorporated “islands” and all of Santa Rosa in helping the city and the county figure out whether to move forward with this plan and, if so, how it should occur.

Toward that end, the city will be hosting four community workshops during the year, which are intended to inform the public about the annexation process and the long-term specific plan for Roseland and other neighborhoods. In turn, the city hopes to get a better understanding of what residents want for their areas.

The first of these meetings will be held in April and May. We will keep you posted, as it’s one of our goals as an Editorial Board for 2015 to ensure this annexation plan remains in the public spotlight and doesn’t lose its momentum as a regional priority.

These “islands” of unincorporated areas are an accident of history and have been adrift for too long. This plan and process offer the best chance yet of correcting that mistake. This economic cost analysis only confirms that.