For residents of Golden Hill and South Park the madness that was the Greater Golden Hill Maintenance Assessment District is nearly over, at least they thought it was.

It has been more than one month since Superior Court Judge Richard Whitney issued the final judgement to vacate the Maintenance Assessment District and invalidate the assessments yet the City has made little progress in actually dissolving the district.

In a March 12 letter, Beth Murray, Deputy Director for the Economic Development Division, informed the Greater Golden Hill Community Development Corporation that the City would be terminating its contract on March 20 and requested that it transfer all remaining funds, data, records, and financial documents relating to the MAD.

"...The Court's judgement eliminated any value of performance under the Contract by invalidating the Contract's fundamental purpose and sole objective," read Murray's letter.

And while the letter was a sign that the City was acting on the court's decision to vacate the MAD, it may be a long time until residents receive any refunds.

A vote by the City Council is needed to end the MAD and stop assessing property owners once and for all, however, the council is not scheduled to discuss the item during next week's council meetings and will not have a chance to until they return from a two-week recess on April 9.

That's bad timing for residents. On the next day property taxes are due, which may leave them on the hook for another payment to a now-defunct and invalidated MAD.