Supervisors aim to fix long-plagued slate of special tax
districts
Supervisors at this week’s meeting unanimously approved a
resolution that established funding guidelines and the creation of
a contingency reserve for the county service area program while
also ratifying a resolution noting the
”
intention
”
to adjust fees in those districts.
Supervisors aim to fix long-plagued slate of special tax districts
Supervisors at this week’s meeting unanimously approved a resolution that established funding guidelines and the creation of a contingency reserve for the county service area program while also ratifying a resolution noting the “intention” to adjust fees in those districts.
Supervisors in doing so have progressed toward restructuring the CSA program that has been plagued for years by mismanagement and accounting flaws.
“The purpose of the reserves are to ensure that we provide uninterrupted services to these CSAs,” Acting Public Works Administrator Janelle Cox said at the meeting. “(To ensure) that there is adequate levels of service for them and that there is long-term viability, we’ve established a method to ensure dollars to handle your capital projects in the future.”
The resolution calls for the establishment of reserves so that CSAs have a way of funding their own services and to ensure money will be there in case funds are drawn too low. Each CSA will have a different fee schedule based on services it requires and there will be some capital-project reserves recommended for various projects, Cox said.
There also will be an operating contingency fund to pay unexpected costs that might come along.
Preceding the supervisors’ consideration Tuesday, the board months ago had enlisted help of an outside firm to hold a series of required meetings with CSA residents, examine those districts’ finances and ultimately recommend new rates.
“We are recommending that four reserves be established,” Cox said, “a capital reserve, an operating contingency, an internal service fund – that will provide for a contingency if a CSA needs additional resources throughout the year, and a replacement reserve.”
Those improvements are long needed to fix holes in the program’s revenue stream.
CSAs were established as a funding mechanism for services beyond what San Benito County normally provides to residents. The first few were established in the 1960s, while most were founded in the 1980s and 1990s.
They are intended to fund such services as road and streetlight maintenance or sewer work. Of the 30 CSAs, the largest in San Benito County is Ridgemark, which includes 1,063 parcels. Overall, there are 2,291 parcels within the county program, according to a board staff report.
Due to changes in state CSA laws that went into effect in January 2009, the county had to set up policy guidelines that will assist in their management.
Supervisor Pat Loe after the meeting noted how the board’s intent is to have each tax district “pay its way.” She said it is important that CSA residents pay for extra services they receive and other county citizens are not subsidizing the program.
“We owe it to the people in the CSAs and all the people in the county to make sure the accounting is right,” Loe said.
Supervisor Anthony Botelho, meanwhile, told The Pinnacle that the overhaul is to “simply meet our obligations” and he called it one of his “top priorities.”
“The CSAs have been managed very poorly in the past,” he said. “The accounting has been very questionable. This process … is to just simply meet our obligations and be completely up-front with the fees collected and the services rendered.
“We’ve done a poor job in the past. I’m completely committed to making this right.”
At the meeting Tuesday, county resident Kim DuPont spoke and said any extra services she has received as a CSA resident “stink.”
“I’ve been dealing with the CSAs since 1997, and it comes down to the assessment of fees and the quality of work that is happening,” DuPont said. “You may say that it is for higher and above services that are provided to the county but if you come out and you look at my road, and it’s the road issue we’ve been dealing with – the higher and above services stink. If that’s higher and above, I’d hate to be just a normal county member.”
The board this week also approved a resolution that approved the fee report – the precise levies have not been determined – and established a public hearing for May 26 regarding the balance in each of the CSA’s accounts. At that time, the public works department should have the final fee reports for approval for all CSAs.
Pinnacle Editor Kollin Kosmicki contributed to this report.
