Glendora officials announced that the popular turf removal, artificial turf and landscape rebates will be suspended for the reminder of the 2015-2016 fiscal year.
The programs will be suspended starting October 30. Any applicants that were approved or accepted prior to the suspension of the above programs will have their projects funded and no changes to current approvals are expected, according to the city website.
The Glendora City Council voted unanimously to suspend the program at the October 27 City Council meeting.
The $500,000 budgeted for these rebates have dried up due to the popularity of the programs, said Dave Davies, director of public works.
“We’re out of money. We’ve spent the budget . It was going so well, we added an appropriation of $125,000 last month,” Davies said. “We spent $500,000 on turf removal alone, so what we have in our remaining budget will be spent on the interior items.”
Interior items meaning washing machines, shower heads, faucets and others, Davies added.
With the turf rebates, just under 700,000 square feet of turf has been removed, which translates to a savings of 418,000 gallons of water a year.
In July, the Metropolitan Water District suspended its turf removal program due to an overwhelming response from homeowners barely one month after an additional $350 million was infused into the budget.
The MWD announced its waitlist for turf removal applications will be closed on November 1.
