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Department of Transportation, Maintenance and Operations Division, recommending the Board Approve the Final Passage (Second Reading) of Ordinance 5216 amending El Dorado County Ordinance Chapter 3.30 - Charges for Miscellaneous Extended Services Fixed in County Service Areas - Collection on Tax Rolls sections 3.30.020 - Written Report and 3.30.030 - Notice and Hearing, Protest, Adoption of Change, consistent with Government Code Section 25214(d). (Cont. 12/3/2024, Item 23)
FUNDING: County Service Area Zone of Benefit Special Taxes and Assessments (100%).
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DISCUSSION / BACKGROUND
On December 3, 2024, the Board heard the Introduction (First Reading) of Ordinance 5216 amending El Dorado County Ordinance Chapter 3.30 - Charges for Miscellaneous Extended Services Fixed in County Service Areas - Collection on Tax Rolls sections 3.30.020 - Written Report and 3.30.030 - Notice and Hearing, Protest, Adoption of Change, consistent with Government Code Section 25214(d) and Continued the matter to January 7, 2025 for Final Passage (Second Reading).
Chapter 3.30 of the El Dorado County Code of Ordinances addresses the charges for miscellaneous extended services fixed in county service areas (CSAs), collection on tax rolls.
On September 10, 2024, the Board of Supervisors provided conceptual approval of minor grammatical and formatting corrections, updates related to current County processes, and conformance with current CSA law to El Dorado County Ordinance Code sections 3.30.020 and 3.30.030.
County Ordinance Code section 3.30.020, Written Report, states, "Once a year, the County Administrative Officer or his or her designee, after meeting and consulting with the County Service Area Zone of Benefit Advisory Committee where appropriate, shall prepare and submit to the Board of Supervisors a written report which shall contain a description of each parcel of real property receiving the particular extended service and the amount of the charge for each parcel for such year computed in conformity with the procedure set forth in this chapter authorizing collection of such charges on the tax roll. Such report shall be filed with the Clerk of the Board of Supervisors." (Code 1997, § 3.30.020; Ord. No. 3555, § 1(part), 1985)
While current CSA laws no longer require the County to produce an annual report, staff agrees there is value in continuing this practice for good governance purposes and therefore recommends the continuation of the annual report being filed with the Clerk of the Board. However, staff recommends the Board consider eliminating the reference to meeting and consulting with Advisory Committees, as such input is unnecessary for staff to generate a report related to the parcels, service, and amounts charged.
County Ordinance Code section 3.30.030, Notice and hearing, protest, adoption of changes, states the following:
"A. Upon the filing of such report, the Clerk shall fix a time, date and place for hearing thereon and for filing objections or protests thereto. The Clerk shall publish notice of such hearing as provided in Government Code § 6066, prior to the date set for hearing, in a newspaper of general circulation printed and published in the County.
B. At the time, date and place stated in the notice, the Board of Supervisors will hear and consider all objections or protests, if any, to the report and may continue the hearing from time to time. Upon conclusion of the hearing, the Board of Supervisors may adopt, revise, change, reduce or modify any charge and shall make its determination upon each charge as described in the report and thereafter, by resolution, shall confirm the report." (Code 1997, § 3.30.030; Ord. No. 3555, § 1(part), 1985)
The entirety of this language in County Ordinance Code section 3.30.030 is a reflection of former Government Code section 25210.77a, which was repealed during the re-organization of CSA laws in 2008.
Due to rising publication costs in recent years combined with constrained budgets for many zones, and the repealed Government Code, the Department recommends the Board consider eliminating the requirements to conduct a public hearing and the respective publication of the notice in local newspapers. Eliminating these requirements will improve County efficiencies by allowing the annual report to be filed as a consent item rather than a public hearing and alleviating the zones of obligatory publication costs.
ALTERNATIVES
The Board may choose not to provide approval of the proposed County Ordinance Code revisions, resulting in the Department continuing to schedule annual public hearings with public notices.
PRIOR BOARD ACTION
Legistar File 24-0845, 9/10/2024, Conceptual approval of revising County Ordinance Code section 3.30.
OTHER DEPARTMENT / AGENCY INVOLVEMENT
County Counsel
CAO RECOMMENDATION / COMMENTS
Approve as recommended.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
There are no impacts to Net County Costs or other County resources. The costs of the required newspaper publications for CSA's 2, 3, 9 and 10 was $2,183.14 in Fiscal Year (FY) 2022-23 and $2,351.62 for FY 2023-24. While this amount is historically budgeted and spread between the zones within the respective CSAs, the overall reduction of costs combined with staff time associated with the annual publications and public hearing processes results in additional savings.
CLERK OF THE BOARD FOLLOW UP ACTIONS
1) Continue this matter to the Board of Supervisors regular meeting scheduled on January 7, 2025 for Final Passage (Second Reading).
2) Publish the ordinance Summary in the local newspaper no less than five (5) days prior to Final Passage.
3) Publish the ordinance within fifteen (15) days after its passage in a newspaper of general circulation published and circulated in the County and send the full ordinance to Municode for codification following Final Passage.
STRATEGIC PLAN COMPONENT
Strategic Focus Area
Priority: N/A
Action Item: N/A
CONTACT
Rafael Martinez, Director
Department of Transportation