City Fees anger advisory leader

(From the Signal) A Santa Clarita proposal to start charging a use fee for city facilities where three local community groups meet has angered the leader of the Canyon Country Advisory Committee. “If this is going to be a business, why have taxpayer money pay for it?” committee Chairman Al Ferdman said of the Santa Clarita Activities Center, where the committee has met for free. “Why not give it to the private sector?”

Ferdman said the advisory committee provides a service to the public by hosting election forums and developers’ meetings.

“The facility is staffed to 10 p.m. even when no one is using the public meeting rooms. How is that a budget- and head-count issue?” Ferdman wrote in an e-mail to committee members.

City spokeswoman Gail Ortiz said the Saugus Action Committee and the Whittaker-Bermite Citizens Advisory Group will also have to start paying the $51-per-hour charge for meeting space, along with the Canyon Country group.

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