Measure Y, the trash/water split, the mall redevelopment, the Tết calendar — answered plainly.
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Town Tools builds free, public tools for Westminster and towns around the world. A team of agents researches each place from local sources and keeps the tools up to date; residents suggest new ones and report corrections.
Straight answers to the questions Westminster residents actually ask — about the tax, the trash, the mall, and the calendar that runs the year. Every answer was checked against an official or primary source on the date in the footer.
Westminster charges an extra 1% local sales tax. Voters first approved it in 2016 when the city's budget was in serious trouble, and in November 2022 about 70% of voters approved Measure Y, which continues that 1% until March 31, 2043. It brings in roughly $16.8 million a year, and the ballot language tied it to keeping basic services — including 911 response — funded. So the higher rate is not an accident; it is the thing keeping a structurally tight city budget standing.
Trash, recycling carts, bulky-item pickup, and sewer service come from the Midway City Sanitary District — a separate public agency, not Westminster City Hall. Call them at (714) 893-3553 for a missed pickup or a cart problem; current rates are posted on midwaycitysanitaryca.gov. Water is different: that really is the city, billed separately by the Westminster Water Division. Two services, two bills, two phone numbers — the split confuses almost everyone at first.
The mall site at the 405 and Bolsa Chica is being redeveloped as "Bolsa Pacific at Westminster" — the developer's plans describe about 2,250 homes (for-sale, market-rate rental, and affordable rental), a 120-room-plus hotel, over 210,000 square feet of retail, and 15+ acres of open space, built in three phases.
What's decided and what isn't: as of June 2026 the developer's own project page says entitlement plans are submitted to the city with approval anticipated in 2026, mall demolition was slated to begin in early 2026 (with Target staying open), and construction is anticipated to start late 2026. The city approvals are the part still in motion — if you want a say, the hearings show up on council and planning agendas at westminsterca.granicus.com.
The 2026 season at Phước Lộc Thọ (Asian Garden Mall, 9200 Bolsa Ave) runs every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday from June 19 through August 9, 7–11pm, on the front parking lot. Free to walk in; bring cash for the vendors. The front lot and the Bolsa Avenue entrance close during market hours, so plan to park elsewhere and walk in.
No — but its funding is genuinely strained. The 2025 parade cost the city nearly $240,000 (about $156,000 after sponsorships and fees), almost triple 2024's net cost, mostly because police deployment doubled. Council members were blunt that the parade "is not going away," and in June 2025 the council created the Westminster Tet Parade Foundation, a nonprofit whose whole job is raising money so the parade leans less on the city budget. The parade itself runs on Bolsa Avenue around Lunar New Year (late January–February).
April 30 marks the fall of Saigon in 1975. For Westminster — the heart of the Vietnamese diaspora — it is a week of solemn commemoration, not a festival. The city holds an annual remembrance ceremony at the Vietnam War Memorial in Sid Goldstein Freedom Park (14180 All American Way), with remarks from officials and a wreath-laying honoring the Vietnamese and American soldiers who died in the war. The 2026 ceremony was held April 30 at 10am.
Yes — anyone selling food from a cart, stand, or truck in Orange County needs a health permit from the OC Health Care Agency's Environmental Health division, and permits from other counties don't count here. Questions about permits or food safety go to the county program at (714) 433-6416. Sidewalk-vending rules on city streets are a city matter on top of that — code enforcement questions go to City Hall.
Regular council meetings are the 2nd and 4th Wednesdays of the month at 6pm. You can watch live or after the fact — with agendas and minutes — at westminsterca.granicus.com (the city's meeting portal, linked from westminster-ca.gov), and meetings also stream on the city's YouTube channel. Given how much of this city's story runs through that room, the archive is worth knowing about.
Four districts share Westminster. Most of the city is Westminster School District for TK–8 — its "Find My Child's School" tool on wsdk8.us settles boundary questions — with high schools run by Huntington Beach Union High School District (including Westminster High). Portions along the north and east edges fall under Garden Grove Unified, and Ocean View School District serves K–8 near the Huntington Beach border. Phone numbers for all four are on this town's "Who Handles What" page.
Much of Westminster sits in FEMA's shaded "500-year" zone because the regional flood channel can't contain the largest storms, and the county notes more than 20,000 property owners in the watershed must carry National Flood Insurance. Whether *your* address is one of them depends on the map: use this town's Flood Zone Check tool, or look your address up at the FEMA Map Service Center (msc.fema.gov). Inside a high-risk zone, insurance is required with a federally backed mortgage; elsewhere it's optional but available.
Four anchors, roughly in calendar order. Tết (late January–February): the city's Tết parade on Bolsa Avenue, plus the separate UVSA Tết Festival at Golden West College — in 2026 that ran February 13–15, $10 at the gate, with free entry for traditional dress (áo dài) limited to a one-hour window on Saturday. Black April (April 30): the remembrance ceremony at Sid Goldstein Freedom Park. Summer: the chợ đêm night-market season at Phước Lộc Thọ, Friday–Sunday evenings (June 19 – August 9 in 2026). Autumn: Mid-Autumn Festival (Tết Trung Thu) events appear around September–October — dates vary by organizer, so watch the city's and the mall's pages. Exact dates shift each year; the patterns don't.