Eligible Westminster residents who purchase a automobile from qualifying dealerships in city can get a $500 rebate from the metropolis beginning in April, a program that metropolis officers say would encourage folks to buy domestically.
City Councilmembers authorised renewing the subsidy by a 4-1 vote at a late October assembly, with Councilmember Carlos Manzo dissenting, saying that the earlier program needs to be additional examined earlier than approving it for one other 5 years.
His colleagues stated the program had been successful, whereas some residents who spoke in opposition to the program throughout the public listening to contended it was a poor use of taxpayer cash.
Editors’ Note: This dispatch is a part of the Voice of OC Collegiate News Service, working with scholar journalists to cowl public coverage points throughout Orange County. If you wish to submit your individual scholar media mission associated to Orange County civics or when you have any response to this work, contact Collegiate News Service Editor Vik Jolly at [email protected].
Westminster just isn’t the solely Orange County metropolis to have a automobile rebate program. Santa Ana, Garden Grove, and Placentia all provide comparable $500 incentive applications for their residents.
Westminster’s unique program ran from 2017 to May 2022. It provided a $500 rebate to residents who bought a brand new car from collaborating dealerships inside the metropolis.
Under the new program, buying a used automobile – at a minimal value of $25,000 – can even set off eligibility for the rebate, based on the authorised assembly minutes. New vehicles wouldn’t have to fulfill a minimal value threshold to be eligible for the rebate.
The earlier program had initially authorised rebates for purchases of recent vehicles solely.
However, based on City Manager Christine Cordon, oversight of the program allowed rebates to be utilized to used automobiles as nicely.
The new car rebate program has a price range of $600,000 per 12 months for 5 years, for a complete of $3 million, based on a metropolis workers report.
With Westminster going through the risk of a chapter, residents in November voted on a gross sales tax poll measure to bolster metropolis revenues and forestall cuts to metropolis providers
Some residents who voiced issues about the new spending throughout the October public listening to requested why the metropolis was proposing a program that might deplete $3 million from the metropolis’s financial growth fund, relatively than investing the cash to create passive revenue for the metropolis.
Passive revenue is revenue that’s acquired mechanically with minimal labor to earn or keep, much like a rental property that generates cash.
“Between the dealership and metropolis workers, Westminster residents had been robbed,” resident Camilla Overbeek advised the council. “If there are any representatives right here in the chambers tonight from Elmore, Honda, Lexus, disgrace on you. Westminster residents will not be your piggy financial institution.”
Resident Amy Walsh additionally voiced her disapproval of the program.
“I can not consider the remainder of the council members will not be extra upset about what has gone on over the previous 5 years,” she advised the council.
Walsh referred to the earlier program that allowed dealerships to use the rebates to used automobiles regardless of solely new automobiles being authorised for the rebate.
No residents at the assembly spoke in favor of the rebate.
Councilmember Manzo expressed issues about the program and tried a number of occasions to get his fellow council members to comply with a radical evaluation of the earlier automobile rebate program earlier than approving the new one.
“We have to do a greater job to be as clear as potential,” Manzo stated. “The earlier proposal was an utter failure. And once you have a look at it … it appears to be like like our residents have been taken benefit of. And right here we’re doing the identical factor once more.”
Mayor Tri Ta expressed assist for the program.
“Actually, I believe that, primarily based on my expertise, we had this program for the final 5 years, and that is actually useful to the neighborhood. All the cash, at the finish of the day, goes again to the residents,” Ta stated.
Councilmember Chi Charlie Nguyen stated he thinks the program is advantageous for the metropolis.
“The cause I say that’s we wish the folks from the metropolis of Westminster to buy in the metropolis of Westminster,” he stated.
Cordon, the metropolis supervisor, advised the council that native dealerships expressed curiosity in renewing the program for one other 5 years.
John Sackrison, the govt director of Orange County Automobile Dealers Assn., voiced assist of the program when addressing the council throughout the public listening to.
“This is a profit to the residents of Westminster. 100% of the funds go to the residents,” he stated.
The rebate can even be obtainable to Westminster companies, not simply metropolis residents, based on the workers report.
The rebate will likely be utilized to the value of the automobile at the time of ultimate buy/lease of the car. Reimbursement will then be provided to the dealerships upon correct submission of all required paperwork inside 30 days of the request, the workers report stated.
The car incentive program is scheduled to begin in April and can proceed by way of April 2028.
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