Puff! There Goes California's Newest City

Not since 1972 has a city in California disincorportated. The loss of vehicle license fee revenues is viewed as the chief cause in the case of Jurupa Valley.

"Two days before the July 1, 2011, incorporation date, state legislators voted to shift millions in vehicle license fee revenue from every California city to counties as part of the prison realignment efforts by the state," writes Sandra Stokley.

City Manager Stephen Harding estimated in a report that Jurupa Valley will run out of money in the third or fourth quarter of fiscal year 2015-16. Because a disincorporation is a lengthy process, sometimes taking as long as two years, Harding said the city had to start the process now.

As we wrote in September, Jurupa Valley is one of four cities, all in Riverside County and incorporated after 2008, that were severely affected by the passage of SB 89 in 2011, with the youngest ones being particularly vulnerable to the loss of funds.

In an earlier version of her article, Stokley writes, "Jurupa Valley, which lost 46 percent of its first-year general fund budget, was staggered by the loss."

The California Report provides a radio report on the vote. Reporter Steven Cuevas ends by stating that there is a possibility that "voters could soon decide if they should hike taxes to keep Jurupa Valley solvent or surrender independence and return to county control."

See #16A of city council agenda [PDF] to read the resolution approved on Thursday night.