It's official: Governor restores Menifee's VLF funding

Members of the Menifee City Council join officials of three other cities at Jurupa Valley City Hall Friday for Gov. Brown's signing of SB130, which reinstates VLF fees for Menifee, Wildomar, Jurupa Valley and Eastvale.

Gov. Jerry Brown made it official Friday, signing legislation that will once again enable the City of Menifee to collect its share of vehicle license fees from the state.

Menifee, Eastvale, Jurupa Valley and Wildomar -- four Riverside County cities incorporated since 2008 -- had been without those fees since 2011, when Brown diverted that funding to other programs. The loss of that income had cost Menifee more than $4 million a year ever since and has created a budget deficit of approximately $3 million.

Local legislators made several previous attempts to convince Brown to restore the VLF funding, but the governor vetoed each one. His reversal in position this time was tied to a promise made to local Democratic Senator Richard Roth and Assemblywoman Sabrina Cervantes in exchange for votes that helped pass SB1, the 12 cent per gallon gas tax increase.

Appearing in Jurupa Valley -- which is represented by Roth -- Brown signed SB130. The exact amount to be given to the four cities will be determined through a formula that considers assessed value growth, population data, and other information from the Riverside County auditor-controller. The adjusted income for Menifee from VLF funding was estimated by the Department of Finance to be $5.7 million, according to Assemblywoman Melissa Melendez, whose district includes Menifee.

Whatever the amount, it is considered a huge boost to Menifee, which urgently needs to boost its general fund in order to increase an understaffed police force and for road maintenance.

"After many attempts to reinstate Vehicle License Fees back to Menifee, we are ever so grateful to receive these funds to pay for critical services," said Menifee City Council member Lesa Sobek. "We never gave up hope and we extend our sincerest gratitude to the Senator and Assemblywoman for their vigilant efforts, as this was not about party politics for the City, but a real local issue affecting our ability to provide services."

In addition to the restoration of VLF funding, Menifee will soon begin collecting income from the Measure DD 1 percent sales tax increase, which went into effect April 1. That tax measure, approved by voters in November, was designed to help improve public safety within the city.

In addition to the ongoing need for road improvements, Menifee is well below the recommended ratio of police officers to residents. City officials have pledged to determine the best proportion of funding for these two revenue sources to both increase the police force and continue to improve roads.

Council member Matt Liesemeyer stated his excitement about the VLF restoration on his Facebook page on Friday.

"It's about to get interesting as we've finally gotten our money back from Brown," Liesemeyer wrote. "I'm so excited for the City of Menifee. We finally have something to look forward to, having the funds to be creative and really take a close look at what we're spending on. It's time get put some boots on the ground, once and for all."

This additional funding will have a huge impact on interim city manager Ron Bradley's preparation of the 2017-18 city budget, which he said he expects to present to the City Council for approval in early June.