The Sacramento Bee has run several editorials over the years about the short comings of Sacramento County trying to provide municipal services to the sprawling unincorporated area of the county. The Bee calls it the Uncity. Counties are an extension of the state government and were created by the Legislature to provide extended state services such as health and welfare and criminal justice such as the courts, jails and prisons. The California constitution and the California Legislature encourage the formation of municipalities to provide local services such as police, fire, planning, parks and public utilities. There are 478 incorporated cities in California and 82% of the California population live in an incorporated city. As California continues to grow, there will many additional communities forming new cities.

The unincorporated area of Sacramento County is the largest population block in the county with more then 500,000 residents followed closely by the City of Sacramento. Since 2001, three Sacramento County communities have incorporated into cities with a total of 250,000 residents that were formerly part of the Uncity. The county has a very difficult time providing municipal services to such a wide area. Many of the traditional municipal services are now provided by special districts which creates a chaotic quilt of various service districts throughout the county. The county is further handicapped by the fact that the distribution of many special revenues favors incorporated cities which means the county is attempting to provide traditional municipal services without the benefits of being a municipality. Incorporation of Rio Linda Elverta will correct these deficiencies.

The pressure to incorporate Rio Linda Elverta comes from the need to improve two basic municipal services; police protection and planning and land use control. Additionally, our community should be allowed to have the advantage of the financial benefits that municipalities receive. Because of budget constraints, the Sheriff is unable to provide adequate police protection. Response time to non violent crimes is measured in hours and sometimes days. The Northwest Division of the Sheriff's office covers over 100 square miles and over 110,000 residents. Sheriff patrols are not assigned to specific areas within the division but rather patrol the entire area and respond to calls accordingly. Since Rio Linda Elverta represents only 20% of the total area, we get very little coverage. The Grant Union High School District that includes the Rio Linda Middle School and High School, employs 19 full time fully certified police officers because the Sheriff is unable to provide adequate police services to the schools.