Agenda

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C. 63

To:	Board of Supervisors
From:	INTERNAL OPERATIONS COMMITTEE
Date:	November 17, 2015

Contra

Costa

County

Subject:

REFERRAL ON ANNEXATION STUDY COST SHARING POLICY

APPROVE	OTHER
RECOMMENDATION OF CNTY ADMINISTRATOR	RECOMMENDATION OF BOARD COMMITTEE

Action of Board On: 11/17/2015

APPROVED AS RECOMMENDED

OTHER

Clerks Notes:

VOTE OF SUPERVISORS

AYE:

John Gioia, District I Supervisor
Candace Andersen, District II Supervisor
Mary N. Piepho, District III Supervisor
Karen Mitchoff, District IV Supervisor
Federal D. Glover, District V Supervisor

Contact:	Julie DiMaggio Enea (925) 335-1077
cc:	IOC Staff

I hereby certify that this is a true and correct copy of an action taken and entered on the minutes of the Board of Supervisors on the date shown.
ATTESTED: November 17, 2015
,

BY:	, Deputy

RECOMMENDATION(S):

ACCEPT report and recommendation that the Board consider requests to share costs for annexation feasibility studies on a case-by-case basis in lieu of developing a County policy on such requests.

FISCAL IMPACT:

No fiscal impact.

BACKGROUND:

On October 20, 2015, the Board of Supervisors referred to the Internal Operations Committee the development of a policy for Board consideration to guide the sharing of costs between the County and local jurisdictions of annexation feasibility studies.

BACKGROUND: (CONT'D)

Municipal government exists to provide services to urban populations and to regulate them in an orderly fashion. But an anomalous city development is that cities are ringed with urban populations that receive different or fewer services. Disparities in cost and quality of urban services between incorporated and unincorporated areas lead inexorably to incorporation or, in a few cases, to county government on a municipal scale. It is with these urban but unincorporated communities that annexation may be a solution. Careful study is required to determine whether or not an annexation is justified and feasible. Annexation feasibility studies typically involve a determination of the study area and its characteristics, an inventory of current and needed services, the cost of furnishing needed services, and potential revenue to fund those services. Planning staffs of the involved agencies are usually called to study annexation proposals, but sometimes commercial planning contractors are hired to conduct these studies.

Most annexations are initiated by cities or districts in response to a current or future need and upon a determination that a fiscal advantage (or at least no fiscal detriment) would accrue from annexation. Consequently, costs for annexation studies in Contra Costa County have traditionally been borne by the requesting agency. However, that is not always the case. In the absence of a fiscal advantage to a requesting agency and when the County finds that annexation would best serve the welfare of a population, it may be appropriate for the County to share in the costs of the feasibility study.

As a first step, our Committee reviewed remaining unincorporated County areas to determine the likelihood that there will be future annexations that might meet criteria that would be addressed in a cost-sharing policy. It was evident from reviewing the unincorporated areas that the circumstances informing annexation decisions were unique and varied greatly among the different areas. Consequently, at our November 9 meeting, we decided that a general policy would be impractical and that decisions to share in the costs of annexation feasibility studies should be considered based on the circumstances of each particular request and proposal. We ask, therefore, that the Board accept this recommendation and terminate this referral.