There will be no impact on the General Fund. The cost of preparation of an application to LAFCO will be funded with CSA R-7, Zone A, funds.
Assessment District 1979-3 (LL-2), Zone 36 (“Zone 36”) was formed in 1991 in the Alamo area to provide future park and recreational facilities and their associated operation and maintenance, and special services, described as tree care programs, street litter pickup, and sidewalk and jogging path cleanup for Danville Boulevard, Livorna Road, Miranda Avenue, and Stone Valley Road. Funding for the services provided by Zone 36 is derived from assessments on parcels located in Zone 36. Along with funding the special services enumerated above, Zone 36 assessment revenues are used to maintain approximately 855 trees, about 800 of which were planted along Danville Boulevard from 1987 to 2005 in the “Boulevard of Trees” project. Currently, Public Works reports that Zone 36 only has enough funding to do limited maintenance of the trees and the primary focus is on removing dead trees.
Zone 36 assessments generate approximately $50,700 in annual assessment revenues. While Public Works keeps its expenditures at approximately $50,000 per year, Public Works staff has advised the District II Supervisor that these revenues are not sufficient to cover the cost of needed tree maintenance and replacement, and as a result, there is a growing backlog of deferred maintenance work. A 2021 tree inventory and management plan for Zone 36 (“Zone 36 Tree Plan”) indicates that of an inventory of 855 trees that the County maintains in Zone 36, 300 of which are part of the Boulevard of Trees, nearly 20 percent could pose a potential risk to people and property if no routine maintenance is performed. The Zone 36 Tree Plan estimates that an additional $40,000 is needed each year for at least the next five years to maintain the trees properly, and an additional $10,000 a year is needed to replace trees that have been removed due to their poor condition and to maintain the new trees. According to Public Works staff, continued funding at the same level will be required beyond the next five years as the trees age and require additional maintenance.
A funding shortfall also exists with regard to the Alamo MAC. Created by the Board of Supervisors in 2009 in accordance with Government Code, § section 31010, the Alamo MAC is an advisory body consisting of seven Board-appointed members, all of whom reside in Alamo. Among other things, the Alamo MAC is authorized to advise the Board on services that are or may be provided to the Alamo community by the County or other local government agencies, including parks and recreation, lighting and landscaping, land use and code enforcement, public safety, transportation and other infrastructure. The Alamo MAC receives an annual General Fund allocation of $3,000 to cover the costs of rent of its meeting site and other expenses, including office supplies. The cost of renting its current meeting location at the Alamo Women’s Club has increased from $3,600 in 2019 to $4,375 in 2022. An additional $3,000 is sought to cover this increase in costs for rentals and office supplies.
CSA R-7 funds are currently used for the maintenance of community facilities at Hap Magee Ranch Park, which is jointly owned by Contra Costa County and the Town of Danville. It is anticipated that additional community facilities may be acquired, constructed, maintained, or operated in future years. While no new project is imminent, the power to acquire, construct, improve, maintain, or operate a community facility should be explicitly authorized to ratify current expenditures and to allow for future projects.
County Service Area R-7, Zone A (“CSA R-7A”) has been identified as a potential provider of additional funding for the additional tree maintenance in Zone 36, additional funding of the Alamo MAC, and the acquisition, construction, improvement, maintenance, and operation of community facilities. CSA R-7 was formed in 1974 to provide extended park and recreation services in the San Ramon Valley area. In 1984, the Board of Supervisors established the Alamo area of CSA R-7 as Zone A and the area east of San Ramon as Zone B. Zone B has been dissolved. CSA R-7A is funded primarily through an allocation of a portion of the 1 percent ad valorem property tax levied by the County on parcels located within CSA R-7A. In Fiscal Year 2020/21, the amount allocated to CSA R-7A was $1,352,000, forming the bulk of its total revenues of $1,360,069. But CSA R-7A expenditures have historically been less than its revenues. In Fiscal Year 2020/2021, CSA R-7A expenditures were $814,940 – approximately 60 percent of its revenues, consistent with prior years. There is currently a CSA R-7A fund balance of approximately $5.9 million.
The 1974 resolution that approved the formation of CSA R-7 did not authorize it to provide funding for services of a municipal advisory council, to maintain street trees or parkways, or to acquire, construct, improve, maintain, or operate a community facility. However, the list of services and facilities that an existing county service area provides may be expanded through the activation of latent powers process. Under the County Service Area Law (Government Code, § 25210 et seq.), a “latent power” is a service or facility that a county service area is authorized to provide under the law, but was not authorized to provide prior to January 1, 2009, as determined by the local agency formation commission. (See Government Code, § 25210.2, subdivision (g)). County service areas are authorized to provide any governmental services and facilities within the county service area that a county is authorized to perform but does not perform to the same extent on a countywide basis, including a number of facilities and services enumerated in Government Code, § section 25213.
The latent powers proposed to be activated are set forth in Government Code sections, § 25213, subdivision (j) (maintenance of landscaping on County property, County rights-of-way and County easements), subdivision (o) (funding for the services of the Alamo MAC) and subdivision (w) (acquire, construct, improve, maintain, or operate community facilities). These services would be in addition to and not supplant the basic maintenance services provided by Zone 36 and the basic funding provided to the Alamo MAC from the General Fund. Facilities at Hap Magee Park, jointly owned by Contra Costa County and the Town of Danville, are currently being improved and maintained using R-7A funds, and this activated power would allow for there to be additional community facilities acquired, constructed, maintained, or operated within the R-7A area in future years. Proposed services for CSA R-7A would exceed what is typically provided for County rights-of-way, where maintenance focusses only on trees that pose an imminent risk to the public, have already fallen, or that have caused damage to vehicles, and would exceed but not supplant services provided by Zone 36.
The proposed activation of latent powers would not interfere with the original purpose of CSA R-7A, which is to provide extended parks and recreation services. The annual cost of the proposed services is only ten percent of the annual revenue of the CSA.
Latent powers of CSA R-7A may be activated only with the approval of LAFCO. The first step in the process is preparation of a plan for services, a resolution of application, and other required application materials, which must conform to LAFCO requirements and statutory provisions under Government Code, § sections 56652-56654 and 56824.12, and environmental review of the proposal. The Board would be required to hold a public hearing on the proposed resolution of application. After the hearing, if the Board approves the proposal, the plan for services, resolution of application and other application materials would be submitted to LAFCO for its consideration and another public hearing. If LAFCO approves the application, the Board may then adopt a resolution authorizing CSA R-7A to exercise the new powers.
The process to activate the latent powers of CSA R-7A would not be initiated.