Title
HEARING - Environmental Management Department recommending the Board approve and authorize the Chair to sign:
1) Resolution 119-2024 127-2024 for the November 2024 election to:
a) Place a ballot measure requesting voters to support a $6.00 per Equivalent Dwelling Unit (EDU) Special Tax increase (requiring a 2/3 supermajority voter approval Zone of Benefit C 73299 within the County Service Area (CSA) 10) to continue to provide a previously established waste management service for Zone of Benefit C #73299 (Tahoe Basin including the City of South Lake Tahoe), with the $6 per EDU increase providing approximately $57,000 of additional revenue annually, dedicated to waste collection, processing, reclamation, and disposal services; and
b) Approve the following ballot measure language: “Shall the measure to levy an annual special tax in the amount of $12 per EDU, with an annual adjustment using the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers, on each improved parcel of land within the ZOB, commencing fiscal year 2025-26 and continuing for an unlimited duration, to be used for waste collection, processing, reclamation, and disposal services and generating an annual revenue of approximately $114,000, to replace the current benefit assessment of $6 per EDU, be adopted?” (Cont. 6/25/2024, Item 55)
FUNDING: County Service Area 10 Waste Management Fees and Special Taxes.
Staff recommending this matter be Continued off Calendar.
Body
DISCUSSION / BACKGROUND
The Policy and Procedure Guidelines for Creation and Administration of Zones of Benefit within a County Service Area (Guidelines), amended version adopted June 2, 1987, provided for the Zone Advisory Committee to make recommendations regarding the level of the annual assessments to be placed on the tax roll. Assessments were set annually by Resolution of the Board, as allowed under County Service Area laws at the time. On February 10, 2015 (Legistar File 14-1292), the Guidelines were amended for, among other things, consistency with current state laws and County practices regarding benefit assessments and special taxes.
County Service Area 10 was formed in 1988 to provide certain services within the incorporated and unincorporated areas of the County, including household hazardous waste, solid waste and liquid waste management. The City Councils of the City of Placerville and the City of South Lake Tahoe each consented, by Resolution, to be included in CSA 10.
The lands included in CSA 10 are subject to fees assigned for specific waste management services. The fees are assigned to improved parcels of land where the assessed value of the improvement is $10,000 or greater; solid waste management fees are based on the use of the land and the volume of waste occurring from the use, described as an Equivalent Dwelling Unit (EDU).
The proposed special tax increase measure is an increase to pre-existing benefit assessments/service charges that have been in place and collected, without change since origination in 1990 within Zone of Benefit C, in the Tahoe basin including the City of South Lake Tahoe.
Operating costs for performing the waste collection, processing, reclamation, and disposal services within the Zone of Benefit C in CSA 10 have greatly increased over the course of over 30 years. Given the structure of the Zone of Benefit tax and given the introduction of Proposition 218, an increase to these fees has not occurred. The resulting lack of funding for these services has placed great strain on the third-party servicers performing these services, as well as on the County and the Environmental Management Department to continue to secure these services for those within this Zone of Benefit.
The Environmental Management Department is proposing a tax increase measure to increase the current $6 per EDU tax to a $12 per EDU tax. This differs from a tax assessed “per parcel” in that EDU’s are determined by land use and can range from .4 per unit for a motel to a 126 multiplier for Large Retail centers. See attachment (C ), Exhibit A to the CSA 10 annual resolution, adopted June 11th, 2024 (Item # 24-0566), for the Equivalent Dwelling Unit table which demonstrates how a per EDU tax is calculated. In CSA 10 Zone C, the average parcel has a multiplier of one, but there are some variances. Given that land use can change from year to year, we have calculated the anticipated tax in approximations.
ALTERNATIVES
The Board may choose not to approve the Resolution setting the measure for election. While there is no guarantee the measure will pass, without the election there is no opportunity for the voters in the zones to consider the measure to increase funding for zone activities.
PRIOR BOARD ACTION
N/A
OTHER DEPARTMENT / AGENCY INVOLVEMENT
County Counsel
Registrar of Voters
CAO RECOMMENDATION / COMMENTS
Approve as recommended.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
There is no change to Net County Costs. The estimated cost for conducting each election is approximately $1,500. Actual costs will be determined on a time and materials basis and will be paid from the respective zone funds.
There are approximately eight thousand eight hundred and forty-nine (8,849) improved parcels in Zone of Benefit C subject to the current benefit assessment/service charge of $6 per EDU annually, for a total zone revenue of approximately $57,000. Should the measure receive the required two-thirds majority votes in favor of the increase, the annual special tax of $12 per EDU will result in an annual revenue of approximately $114,000, an increase of $57,000 annually for zone operations. Should the measure fail to receive the two-thirds majority vote, the benefit assessment/service charge will continue to be collected at $6 per EDU, with the annual revenue to the zone remaining at $57,000.
CLERK OF THE BOARD FOLLOW UP ACTIONS
1)The Clerk of the Board will secure the Chair’s signature on the Resolution and have the Resolution recorded.
2)The Clerk of the Board will provide one (1) certified copy of the Resolution to the Environmental Management Department, attention of Monica Lindsley, for further processing.
STRATEGIC PLAN COMPONENT
Priority: N/A
Action Item: N/A
CONTACT
Jeff Warren, Director
Environmental Management Department