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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 Charter to allow the City -owned electric utility to transfer a fixed percentage of electric fund revenues into the City's General Fund, which provides essential funding for community services such as police, fire, children's after-school programs, senior/disabled services; and WHEREAS, this measure simply renews and clarifies the previous actions of Riverside voters so that the City can continue to exercise responsible budget practices as originally directed by voters and maintain current funding for essential City services; and WHEREAS, in 2018, the City was served with a lawsuit entitled Parada v. City of Riverside, challenging the validity of Charter -authorized transfers from the City's Electric Fund to the General Fund, alleging the transfer is a tax (requiring new voter approval in addition to that granted in 1907, 1968 and 1977). The lawsuit sought a refund of the transferred monies and a court order preventing the City from continuing the electric transfer going forward, until and unless the City obtains voter approval; and WHEREAS, the City defended the lawsuit and on May 19, 2021, a settlement agreement was reached. The mutually -agreed-upon settlement requires the City to place a measure before voters pursuant to California Constitution article XIII C, section 2, subdivision (b) to explicitly approve of the past practice of the utility fund budget transfer that maintains local funding for essential City services. Specifically, Section 1.2.1 of the settlement agreement provides the following: "the City will draft the Ballot Measure, and resolutions placing the Ballot Measure on City of Riverside ballots in November 2021, to state that: (1) the City's General Fund Transfer policies subject to voter approval in the Ballot Measure are a general tax requiring voter approval under California Constitution, article XIII C, section 2, subdivision (b); and (2) the revenues the City collects from retail customers for electric service may fund, in whole or part, transfers from the City's electric utility to its general fund under the General Fund Transfer policies." WHEREAS, should voters authorize these current City budget and electric rate -setting practices by passing the measure, the City will also issue utility credits over a five-year period to local utility ratepayers, as required by the settlement. This settlement, reached with the assistance of a mediator, allows the parties to avoid unnecessary taxpayer -funded litigation and a lengthy appeal, while prioritizing the desire of both parties to honor voters' say and support local residents and 2